Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 43

The Past And Future Of Unicorns In Europe, The Middle East And Africa

Getting Big: Unicorns of EMEA, a panel at the Forbes Under 30 EMEA Summit. (Photo by Zack O’Malley Greenburg).

Waze, Viber and Wix are just a few of the thousands of companies launched in Israel, part of the reason the country is known as Startup Nation—and makes for a perfect destination for the first-ever FORBES 30 Under 30 Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) Summit, now wrapping up its first full day in Tel Aviv.

Startups from all the aforementionedregions are becoming increasingly relevant o...

Shimon Peres On Donald Trump: ‘I Don’t Think There Is Much To Think About Him’

Trump Card: Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres, interviewed by Randall Lane to kick off the 30 Under 30 Summit in Tel Aviv, does not have a high opinion of The Donald. (Photo by Zack O’Malley Greenburg).

Count former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres as an unofficial member of the Anyone But Trump movement.

When asked by FORBES editor Randall Lane what he thought of Donald Trump today at the30 Under 30 Summit in Tel Aviv, Peres said simply: “I don’t think there is much to think about him...

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shimon Peres Kicks Off Forbes Under 30 Summit: ‘Make A Better Man’

30 Under 30, 90 Over 90: Shimon Peres opens the Forbes 30 Under 30 EMEA Summit with a keynote interview with Randall Lane. (Photo by Uyen Cao).

Shimon Peres has accomplished quite a bit in his nearly 93 years on Earth, serving as one of the founding fathers of Israel, winning the Nobel Peace Prize and filling his golden years focusing on philanthropy. His secret?

“Don’t be pessimistic, it’s a waste of time,” Peres explained in a keynote interview with FORBES editor Randall Lane, drawing a sta...

Bieber And Beyond: The Evolution Of Scooter Braun

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Scooter Braun, the 34-year-old Hollywood power player best known for managing Justin Bieber, always wants to know one thing before he enters a new situation: Did you burn the ships?

That’s what he asked his friend Tom McLeod, a serial entrepreneur and chief of storage concierge startup Omni, who cameto Braun recently with an investment opportunity. Braun quickly declined, and McLeod asked him why. The ancient Greeks, Braun explained, used to burn their own s...

Kanye West Set To Tap Scooter Braun As Manager

Kanye West: The rapper’s business entourage apparently now includesJustin Bieber’s manager. (AP Photo/Bruce Barton).

Scooter Braun made his name managing Justin Bieber, helping to turn an adolescent Canadian into one of the biggest pop stars in the world–and guiding his comeback after a very public fall from grace.

Now it seems Braun is taking on another client with similar extremes under his belt: Kanye West. Braun appeared to confirm the news in a recent interview with FORBES, the entirety...

How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb

Eight and a Half X: TV star Ashton Kutcher and Madonna manager Guy Oseary teamed with billionaire Ron Burkle to turn $30 million into $250 million with investments like Uber and Airbnb. Liberty Media is betting $100 million the duo can do it again–on their own. (Photos: Tim Pannell for Forbes).

Ashton Kutcher, one of the world’s highest-paid TV actors, can obviously afford that most essential of Los Angeles celebrity luxuries: a car and driver. But he still prefers Uber. “We’re going to go to...

Even After $750M Sony/ATV Deal, Michael Jackson Misconceptions Abound

The Underrated King: Jackson’s musical chops are widely acclaimed, but he rarely receives recognition for his business acumen. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images).

Generally speaking, when an entertainer scores hundreds of millions of dollars in a single deal, or pulls in nine figures in a single year, the superlatives rain down in comparable quantity.

When Dr. Drenotched $620 million in 2014, mostly from the sale of Beats to Apple for $3 billion,The Guardiancalled him a “genius” and Apple chief Tim Co...

Why Michael Jackson Will Earn More Than Any Musician In History This Year

Michael Jackson performing on stage at Madison Square Garden during the Jackson 5 Victory tour (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)

When Apple bought Dr. Dre’s Beats for $3 billion nearly two years ago, the deal propelled the superproducer to a record $620 million payday in 2014–a total that seemed unbeatable.But the mark didn’t last long.

Yesterday, Michael Jackson snagged $750 million in a single deal, the sale of his half of the Sony/ATV publishing catalogue to Sony. He’ll have time to add to...

Sony To Buy Michael Jackson’s Half Of Sony/ATV For $750 Million

What A Thriller: Michael Jackson just made another $733 million from beyond the grave. (Photo: AP/xcollectionxpeople).

Michael Jackson earned more than any entertainer dead or alive in the first five years after his untimely passing. When the total soared past $1 billion last year, it seemed an incomparable milestone–at least until today, when Jackson’s estate announced the sale of the King of Pop’s half of the Sony/ATV catalogue to Sony for $750 million.

“When Sony first partnered with Micha...

Visualizing Diversity: The Oscars Vs. The Grammys

Leonardo DiCaprio: The star of ‘The Revenant’ finally got anOscar, but it didn’t help the Academy’s diversity issues.(Photo:ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty Images).

With the Oscars and Grammys both in the bag, award season has come to an end. But questions about how show business will go about honoring its top practitioners–and picking a properly diverse group of individuals to highlight–are still raging.

Take a closer look at the underlying structure of the biggest nights in film and music...