They Create Worlds

TCW Podcast Episode 259 - A Cendant to Vivendi   CUC International looked like a company that never missed. Quarter after quarter, just barely beating estimates, right up until the moment Henry Silverman got access to their books and found out why. When a new customer signed up, CUC booked a full year of revenue immediately, even though billing was monthly. If that customer left before the year was up, CUC never corrected the books. The money just stayed there. Perfectly functional assets were declared worthless on paper, with the supposed losses paid off using money from merger funds. That same merger money was then counted again as incoming revenue, making the company look larger and more profitable than it was. Over $500 million in income that never existed. Walter Forbes was forced to resign and was eventually convicted of the largest accounting scandal of the time. Cendant realized the software and games division itself had been part of the machinery. They sold it to French media company Havas. That sale landed in the orbit of Vivendi, a sprawling conglomerate that had started as a 19th century French waterworks company. Its CEO Jean-Marie Messier had bigger things in mind. AOL had just merged with Time Warner, and Messier was not going to watch an American walled garden of films, music, and games swallow the market he wanted to own.   TCW 258 - The Shenanigans of CUC Software: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW258-the-shenanigans-of-cuc-software TCW 039 - On-Line Systems: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW039-on-line-systems TCW 040 - Sierra On-Line: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW040-sierra-on-line TCW 054 - Blizzard: Vikings and Warcraft: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW054-blizzard-vikings-and-warcraft TCW 055 - Blizzard: Hellfire and the World… of WarCraft: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW055-blizzard-hellfire-and-the-world-of-warcraft TCW 219 - Diablo 1: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW219-diablo-1 TCW 220 - Diablo 2: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW220-diablo-2 TCW 221 - North to Hellgate London: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW221-north-to-hellgate-london TCW 230 - Crafting the World of WarCraft: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW230-crafting-the-world-of-warcraft Space Jam Website: https://www.spacejam.com/1996/ The Digital Antiquarian - The End of Sierra as We Knew It - Part 1 - The Acquisition: https://www.filfre.net/2025/04/the-end-of-sierra-as-we-knew-it-part-1-the-acquisition/ The Digital Antiquarian - The End of Sierra as We Knew It - Part 2 - The Scandal: https://www.filfre.net/2025/04/the-end-of-sierra-as-we-knew-it-part-2-the-scandal/ The Digital Antiquarian - The End of Sierra as We Knew It - Part 3 - The Dog Days of Oakhurst: https://www.filfre.net/2025/05/the-end-of-sierra-as-we-knew-it-part-3-the-dog-days-of-oakhurst/ The Digital Antiquarian - The End of Sierra as We Knew It - Part 4 - Chainsaw Monday: https://www.filfre.net/2025/05/the-end-of-sierra-as-we-knew-it-part-4-chainsaw-monday/ TCW 139 - Tec Toy and Brazil: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW139-tec-toy-and-brazil   New episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month!   TCW Email: [email protected]  BlueSky: @theycreateworlds.bsky.social Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com Alex's book: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1   Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode -  Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode  Outro Music: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love    Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

TCW Podcast Episode 258 - The Shenanigans of CUC Software   Walter Forbes built CUC International from Comp-U-Card, a phone-in discount shopping club that cut out the middleman with a small markup and annual fee, not unlike a proto-Amazon Prime. As computer networks like CompuServe, Prodigy, and GEnie rose, CUC pivoted online and Forbes set his sights on the games business, joining the Sierra On-Line board and buying out Ken Williams and Davidson and Associates for a combined 1.7 billion dollars in stock swaps. Despite promises to Williams that he would not be secondary to a competitor, Bob Davidson of Davidson and Associates ended up running the software division, and when Davidson discovered something troubling enough to dump his stock and left. The cracks were beginning to show. Williams tried to take over, was not given the time of day, and eventually left. Forbes meanwhile pursued a merger with Henry Silverman's HFS, a hospitality giant owning Days Inn, Ramada, Howard Johnson, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and Avis, forming the new conglomerate Cendant. The true depth of the shenanigans were only starting to show. How could a company consistently just barely beat analyst/market estimates?   Comp-U-Card News Brief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6H5mdSHyNQ Credit Card Impression Machines: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S5c2mA1cnv4 New Innovations in Credit Cards (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBD8HTssRA The Simpsons - The Truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nc88_ZEfxg TCW 039 - On-Line Systems: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW039-on-line-systems TCW 040 - Sierra On-Line: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW040-sierra-on-line Word Attack (PC-DOS 1983): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJf13H9Wbnk Math Blaster (PC-DOS 1983): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKi_g0g8EWQ TCW 162 - Spinnaker Software: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW162-spinnaker-software TCW 054 - Blizzard: Vikings and Warcraft: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW054-blizzard-vikings-and-warcraft TCW 071 - A story of Brøderbund!: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW071-a-story-of-broderbund TCW 072 - The MYSTeries of Brøderbund! - : https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW072-the-mysteries-of-broderbund   New episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month!   TCW Email: [email protected]  BlueSky: @theycreateworlds.bsky.social Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com Alex's book: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1   Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode -  Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode  Outro Music: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love    Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/