IBM to sell The Weather Company

[John Robinson]

IBM has announced that it will sell The Weather Company to Francisco Partners, an investment firm. Currently, IBM owns virtually everything to do with The Weather Channel (including the weather.com website, a weather model [the GRAF], a TV graphics production company that supplies both The Weather Channel and local TV stations, and some other holdings), but IBM *does not* own The Weather Channel television channel.

IBM to offload The Weather Channel, other digital properties in transaction

IBM and Francisco Partners have landed on a deal for the sale of The Weather Company, slating the assets in that business to get the investment firm as a new owner.

www.foxbusiness.com

We'll have to see how this turns out. Many of the holding companies/investment firms make their investments in companies to make a quick buck and are not known for plowing money back into the business.

 

[Mike Smith]

This is at least the fourth time TWC has changed hands in the past 20 years (it was founded in 1981). The new owners and the owners before IBM were venture capital firms that were going to (paraphrasing) invest and make it grow!!! But, it hasn't happened.

People simply do not understand how incredibly difficult it is to profitably run a commercial weather company. Why? Because there is a free product from the NWS. Second, because the image of the profession of meteorology is dominated by Hollywood's depiction of "goofball" TV meteorologists = the image of the entire field, companies have to spend a tremendous amount on marketing to overcome that built-in disadvantage.

This was the second time IBM tried to be successful in commercial meteorology. AT&T lasted less than 18 months. Unisys (apart from its NEXRAD operation) lasted less than two years.

These big companies think their "bigness" will help them succeed over the little guys. That seems not to be true.

One reason Joel Myers and AccuWeather have been successful is they were founded by a meteorologist and they have stuck to meteorology.

If you want to be a meteorological entrepreneur, great! But go into it with your eyes open that it is a tremendous amount of work.

 

[Jeff Wright]

My two favorite broadcasts were polar opposites.

Skilling used every graph/chart in the book..AM WEATHER went for minimalism.

I wrote them asking for the pointing sticks that Carl Weiss and Joan Von Ahn used.

I still have them.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Currently, IBM owns virtually everything to do with The Weather Channel (including the weather.com website, a weather model [the GRAF], a TV graphics production company that supplies both The Weather Channel and local TV stations, and some other holdings), but IBM *does not* own The Weather Channel television channel.

Who does own The Weather Channel?

 

[Mike Smith]

Per Wiki,

The Weather Channel is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta.

 

[JamesCaruso]

If you want to be a meteorological entrepreneur, great! But go into it with your eyes open that it is a tremendous amount of work.

I just learned about Tomorrow.io for the first time, from a post in another thread. Looks like a relatively new company. Are you familiar with them? What are they trying to do that is different than AccuWeather and other private forecasting companies focused on hyper-local forecasts? What, if anything is unique about Tomorrow.io? They are launching their own satellite, not sure if AccuWeather and others do that…

Always wished I could continue my financial management career path within a weather-related enterprise!

 

[Mike Smith]

Jim, there are at least 2 other companies launching satellites. SpaceX has literally changed the world and space. ClimaVision is installing a network of gap-filler radars.

AccuWeather doesn't get into the hardware business.

 

[John Robinson]

Here is some more about Allen Media Group, which owns The Weather Channel. In addition to the properties listed in the following synopsis, Allen Media Group owns nearly two dozen television stations in the U.S.

Byron Allen
Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer

In 1993, comedian, producer, media mogul, and philanthropist Byron Allen founded his Los Angeles-based global media company, Entertainment Studios. The company has additional offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Raleigh. Allen now owns one of the largest cable network portfolios in the industry, featuring ten, 24-hour HD television networks (THE WEATHER CHANNEL, COMEDY.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, JUSTICECENTRAL.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, PETS.TV, RECIPE.TV, LOCAL NOW, and THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPAÑOL). The company continues to produce and distributing Emmy Award-winning and nominated shows, while also selling advertising for 43 broadcast and cable television programs. Entertainment Studios has one of the largest libraries of family and advertiser-friendly lifestyle content in the world.

 

[Jeff Wright]

I remember him and Skip Stephenson on NBC’s “REAL PEOPLE” and the syndicated game show FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK.

They falsely called Vostok a space shuttle—that was Buran.