4MC CEO Chosen Entrepreneur of the Year by Jeff Burman Robert Walston, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Four Media Company, has been given an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Nine other regional recipients will vie for the national award in Palm Springs in November. Walston is, of course, the executive at Four Media who resisted a court order to negotiate with the Editors Guild and finally, after a vigorous legal battle and public campaign by this local, put pen to paper and signed a contract with us. In a Los Angeles Times fluff piece [October 26, 1999, Section B6], dripping with unintended irony, we see the supposed high standards of those graced with Ernst & Young's annual award. One might expect that Mr. Walston was nominated by a scion of the industry, or an admired peer. That was not the case. He was nominated by a Four Media employee, securities lawyer Joseph Troy. Troy was brought in by Walston to structure the company's initial public offering, then kept on as house attorney. The Times' Constance Sommer also admits that Walston has "failed to thrill his investors," who have seen his stock plummet by a half, since its IPO three years ago. Sommer adds that Walston "could not recall how much lower" he paid his editorial staff after buying then Compact Video. Our reports, from having spoken to our members on site, put the reductions at as much as 20%. Sommer goes on to say that even after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals "forced Four Media to sit down at the bargaining table," negotiations still broke down. All this from a congratulatory piece in the Times Business pages. Ernst & Young, according to one of the award's judges, Jon Goodman of USC's Annenberg Incubator Project, said that judges "look for companies that demonstrate in many ways that they are good companies." One aspect they claim to consider is "the environment they create for employees." Maybe they should look again.   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 20, No. 6 - November/December 1999   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1999, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700