Some workers may fantasize about punching out their boss. Chris Lyman, chief executive of a local tech company, is giving his employees a chance to do just that.
Lyman and 16 of his workers at Fonality Inc., a Culver City software and phone company, plan to battle it out in a private mixed martial arts tournament at a secret location.
Lyman said that the “extreme team-building” exercise is a step or 10 up from traditional company activities, such as bowling. And he claims he’s not pulling any punches: Employees will battle it out until time expires or one is knocked unconscious, with a referee and EMT present.
“This is either the best idea or the worst idea we’ve ever come up with,” Lyman said.
The tournament will occur in early June, somewhere outside of company property. Lyman declined to disclose the exact time or location because he doesn’t want crowds of people to show up.
“There’s probably a lot of interest out there to see tech geeks fight to the death,” he said.
Participants will be divided into two weight classes and wear protective gear. They’ve also signed waivers, drawn up by the company’s HR and legal departments, absolving Fonality of any responsibility for injury or death.
The idea for a company fight club struck Lyman when he was chatting with a stranger at a restaurant. It turned out the man was Chris Reilly, owner of Legends Gym in Hollywood and a trainer of MMA fighters. Reilly invited Lyman to take a lesson at Legends, and from that grueling workout came the idea for a company tournament.
A few of Fonality’s employees have hit the gym regularly to prepare. They learned that training for a martial arts tournament isn’t easy.
“The first time I went, after the lesson I literally had to pull over on the side of the 405 Freeway and I was sick three times,” said Corey Brundage, vice president of marketing.
Lyman said he wants to see how Fonality’s first tournament goes before scheduling more.
“Like I say it’s all fun and games until you get kicked in the face,” he said, “which just happened to me, actually, in practice.”
Everyone’s a Critic
If MySpace’s new executive team needs advice on how to run the Beverly Hills-based Internet company, it won’t have to look far.
At least two local chief executives wrote blog posts suggesting what News Corp.’s MySpace needs to tackle first as it fights to remain the dominant social network site in the United States.
Jason Calacanis, chief executive at Santa Monica-based Internet search company Mahalo.com, put up on his blog a post titled “The First Ten Things the New MySpace CEO Should Do.” Calacanis was at one time rumored to be a candidate for the position of MySpace chief executive before News Corp. appointed Owen Van Natta, a former executive at MySpace rival Facebook.com.
At the top of Calacanis’ list: buy a search engine. Calacanis reasoned MySpace could make more from advertising if it had a search engine that could compete with powerhouses such as Google Inc. because search advertising is more precise than ads on a social networking site.
Calacanis also advised MySpace’s chief executive to work on applications for mobile devices and build casual games that users can play on their profile pages. He pointed out that Zynga Inc., a San Francisco company that makes casual games for the Internet, is generating large amounts of revenue.
Richard Rosenblatt, chief executive of Santa Monica Web publishing company Demand Media Inc., also offered his two cents. Rosenblatt was one of MySpace’s original executives and helped negotiate the sale of the site to News Corp. for $580 million.
Rosenblatt kept his advice broad. He said MySpace should listen to suggestions from users, capitalize on connections with Hollywood and entertainment companies, and focus on becoming an Internet business with more than one platform, not just being a social networking site.
Good Credit
THQ Inc., the embattled video game publisher in Agoura Hills, announced Wednesday that it had secured a $35 million line of credit from Bank of America.
In a statement, Chief Financial Officer Paul Pucino said the company secured the credit as a precautionary measure. Over the past year, THQ has lost more than $300 million and burned through half its cash after its video game sales suffered.
Some analysts have speculated it could be acquired by another publisher, and one analyst even said the company could go bankrupt. THQ has laid off about 600 employees and is focusing on a handful of key titles in an attempt to reverse its fortunes. Securing a line of credit was part of efforts to shore itself up.
Staff reporter Charles Proctor can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.
