PAGE 3: Delivering on Pitches

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Ribbons were cut earlier this month for the James B. Freedman Pitch Deck at the UCLA Anderson School of Management Venture Accelerator. Named for Jim Freedman (Anderson, ’78), Judy Olian was joined at the event by Ed Bagdasarian, Madelyn Alfano, Christopher Hameetman, Richard Spitz, Larry Braun, and Bruce Munster. … Arie Belldegrun has a hand in another IPO. He’s chairman of Israeli urological cancer treatment developer UroGen Pharma, which raised $58.2 million in its public bow on Nasdaq. Belldegrun has a 2 percent stake in the company, which has a market cap of around $74 million. … Michael Eisner has had a warm reception in the United Kingdom, where he’s in the process of buying Portsmouth Football Club. He received a standing ovation when he addressed club supporters last week in an attempt to reassure them that the team would flourish under his ownership. … Charlie Munger apologized to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders at the company’s recent annual meeting – the “Woodstock of Capitalism.” Munger confessed that he and Warren Buffett missed out on taking positions in Google and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “We failed you there,” he told the assembled. “We were smart enough to figure it out, and we didn’t.” … Debbie Allen will receive the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in June. … Michael Sammis has been named president of Universal Publishing Production Music, a unit of Universal Music Publishing Group. … Carolyn Miller, widow of former Avery Dennison CEO Charles (Chuck) Miller, has committed $500,000 in matching funds to Operation Walk, an L.A. humanitarian medical organization that performs joint-replacement surgeries around the world. … The Hollywood Reporter said last week that Jordan Levin would be taking over as CEO of AwesomenessTV, a multimedia joint venture of Comcast Corp.’s DreamWorks Animation, Hearst Corp., and Verizon Communications. … Snap’s earnings, released last week, and Evan Spiegel’s comments during a call with analysts, set off CNBC commentator Jim Cramer. The stock market yakker called Spiegel “so arrogant” and suggested he needed to be hazed. “He’s so arrogant that I mean, honestly, Evan Spiegel, listen to me and listen to me good: You’re going to introduce yourself next time, and then you’re going to back off and let your CFO talk.” … The Hollywood Reporter tells of a dinner at Casey Wasserman’s home last week, part of an effort to woo members of the International Olympic Committee. Joining elected officials were Spiegel, Kobe Bryant, James Murdoch, Steve Ballmer, Bob Iger, Jeanie Buss, Jeff Shell, Placido Domingo, Sylvester Stallone, and Gustavo Dudamel.

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