THREE MOGULS ABOARD

摘要

No one doubted the artistic talent at DreamWorks SKG when it was launched in 1994 amid hype befitting its superstar founders, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Overlooked in the face of such Tinseltown royalty, though, was that none were proven ceos—a niggling detail that has become hard to miss after a series of gaffes since the trio sold shares of its animation division to the public last year. First the newly public DreamWorks Animation appears to have mishandled first-quarter earnings information. In May its shares fell 5% just before the company disclosed disappointing results. The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether there was any insider trading, and six shareholder lawsuits stemming from the stock drop have been filed. The company botched forecasts for home-video sales of Shrek 2 not once but twice, blowing its credibility on Wall Street and prompting the company to scrap a planned $500 million stock sale. "Are they rookies? Do they have any controls?" asks analyst David Miller at Sanders Morris Harris, echoing concerns of many investors.