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Recent Press Releases (U.S. and international) for magazine issues and staff changes may be found below. Please note that for many issues there exists only a highlights sheet, while for others there may also be a full press release. The cover of FORTUNE's current issue is pictured at right. Please contact the appropriate communications staff member with any questions.
Highlights of the
February 5, 2007
Issue of FORTUNE
Full stories are available at www.FORTUNE.com.
COVER STORY Want to Live Forever?, by David Stipp, page 68 Resveratrol is the ingredient in red wine that made headlines in November when scientists demonstrated that it kept overfed mice from gaining weight, turned them into the equivalent of Olympic marathoners, and seemed to slow down their aging process. But the key question raised by the news won't be answered in the Harvard lab from which the news sprang. Instead look to the Cambridge home of two-year-old Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. Its stated goal is to develop medicines that have the same health-boosting effects in people that resveratrol had on mice. If it succeeds, its medicines may retard the onset or progression of a whole slew of age-related diseases, from diabetes to Alzheimer's to cancer. The drugs may also have an extremely provocative side effect: They might extend life span The New Newt Thing, by Nina Easton, page 82 Newt Gingrich has a big idea and thinks you'll like it so much he'll just have to run for President. For the next nine months Gingrich intends to promote sweeping solutions to difficult issues of the day—particularly heath care and national security—and then, see if the call comes. Gingrich has formed a tax-exempt advocacy group to raise money and promote his policies. He will wait until September—the eve of the primary season—to announce whether he has the support to make it official. QUOTES: “I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling and so deeply drawn upon the American people that if the American people say I have to be President, it will happen,” says Gingrich. “If you want to shape history, it's useful to actually know history.” Of the other Republican contenders for President he says, “We're not in the same business. They are running for the White House. I am trying to change the country.” The Future Is Now, page 44 Eighteen leaders and luminaries share their thoughts on where we're headed and what we'll see when we get there. Including: - Peter Chernin, President and COO of News Corp . : “In 2007 it's mobile entertainment. Mobile is the largest distribution platform on earth. There are two billion cellphone users, vs. one billion Internet users and one billion television users.” - Eli Broad Founder of SunAmerica and KB Home : “ America's long-term problem is competitiveness, and I think 2007 will bring a wake-up call. We'll finally do something about public education. There will be a move to national standards, at least in science and math.” - Vinod Khosla, Venture Capitalist : “This will be the year of cellulosic ethanol—fuel made from grasses, wood chips, and other underutilized biomass. ….We'll see biofuels move from their role as an additive to gasoline to a primary fuel for automobiles.”
Hannah Montana Inc., by Devin Leonard, page 53 Move Over, Tinker Bell. For more than half a century the fairy from Peter Pan has been a signature Disney character. Lately, though, she's been sharing the spotlight with a newcomer to the Magic Kingdom: Hannah Montana. Since its March debut, the Disney Channel series hasn't just been a huge hit with kids and 'tweens; it's become a ubiquitous franchise. It's Not a Game, by David Kirkpatrick, page 56 Last November in Beijing , IBM gathered 2,000 employees, with 5,000 more watching on the web, to unveil a series of global initiatives. During the presentation, CEO Sam Palmisano walked up to an onstage PC, logged onto the online three-dimensional virtual world called Second Life, and took command of the cartoon-like “avatar” that represents him there. He then visited a version of Beijing's Forbidden City built on virtual real estate, dropping by an IBM meeting where avatars controlled by employees in Australia, Florida, India, Ireland, and elsewhere were discussing supercomputing. Among the initiatives announced by Palmisano that day: a $10 million project to help build out the “3-D Internet” exemplified by Second Life. Palmisano calls 3-D realms such as Second Life the “next phase of the Internet's evolution” and says they may have “the same level of impact” as the first web explosion.
Vista Forever, by Peter Lewis, page 65 What Does Windows Vista have in common with the just-christened nuclear aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush ? Answer: They are both powerful flagships of technology that took five years and billions of dollars to build. Also, while they'll both be in use for years to come, they're almost certainly the last of their respective kinds. The world now moves at Internet speed, and slow, complex behemoths—whether warships or software—are being forced to become smaller, faster, and more maneuverable. How does Vista stack up? After a couple of months of testing in the FORTUNE gadget laboratory, the verdict is this: Vista is definitely the best operating system Microsoft has ever made. Shell Shakedown, by Abrahm Lustgarten, page 92 Word that control of the world's largest integrated oil and gas project had been wrested from Royal Dutch Shell trickled down to the company's staff on Russia 's Sakhalin Island in December via the newswires. Shell was halving its ownership in the $22 billion project, cutting its stake from 55% to 27.5%, and Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, was stepping in, buying Shell's share plus half the stakes owned by Japanese partners, for just $7.5 billion. Shell's top executives weren't negotiating from a position of strength. Not in Vladimir Putin's Russia , where strong arm tactics have been used to reassert government control of the country's vast natural resources. The threat of a $50 billion lawsuit meant Shell stood to lose everything. “A guy says, ‘Give me half of what is in your pocket, or I shoot you and kill you,' ” says Oppenheimer oil analyst Fadel Gheit. “You give him half and say, ‘Thank God I am alive to live another day.' They could have lost all of it.” DEPARTMENTS: FIRST Branson Gets Grounded Using a 1926 law, old-school U.S. airlines have halted the Virgin founder's bid to launch a domestic carrier. Here's how he plans to win the dogfight. Who Will Fill the Gap? With $2.4 billion in cash, the retailer is a juicy private–equity target. CFO: All Pain and No Gain At least 12 FORTUNE 50 CFOs left their jobs in 2006. What gives? DISPATCHES Build ‘Em, Cowboy! Emmitt Smith has covered a lot of real estate on the football field. Now he's developing it. Trailer Park Requiem The last people to strike it rich in the real estate boom may be the residents of a modest development in Florida. Party Crasher Apotex's CEO is attacking drug patent settlements he says benefit everyone but consumers. COLUMINISTS Value Driven TV is dying? Long live TV! INVESTING New Rules for Do-Good Funds Portfolios that seek to combine moral values with stock values are getting a makeover. A Bomb in the Muni Market? An obscure Kentucky court case challenges state tax laws. GS Is Going Strong Goldman Sachs is soaring on record revenues. BUSINESS LIFE Jonesing for a Maybach With Quincy Jones riding shotgun, Sue Callaway, returning to FORTUNE after seven years, takes the sinister, sexy, $8 million Maybach Exelero coupe for a spin. FORTUNE is available in digital format. To access this version go to http://Digital.Fortune.Com
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