Ross’s answer to the problem of entertainment failures was far more imaginative: he hedged the Warner Bros. film studio volatility with the steady revenues that came from unrelated businesses. Through the 1970s and 1980s, his acquisitions in the name of cash flow also included, at times, cleaning services, DC Comics, the Franklin Mint, Mad magazine, Garden State National Bank, the Atari video game company, and the New York Cosmos soccer team. Obviously, not every choice fit the rubric of “communications,” but it was
