Internet Brain Drain

You're not the only one jealous of those Internet billionaires. High-paid, lavishly pampered executives are watching small start-ups cash in -- and deciding themselves to bail out. The latest defectors to the Net side include Jake Winebaum, architect of Disney's Internet plans, and Lou Dobbs, money anchor for this site's corporate sibling, CNN. Who's going to run the old companies? It's yet another example of the Net creating chaos for business as usual.

Even Microsoft, famed for its stock-option millionaires, is losing talent to Internet easy money. Yesterday the Seattle Times reported that the company's head of MSN Access, John Ludwig, is taking an extended leave of absence. It's not clear that he's headed for a Net newcomer, but that's exactly what others before him have done. Last summer Peter Neupert, one of Microsoft's biggest new media advocates, left to run Drugstore.com, a site now backed by Amazon. MORE >>