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Talk of the bay

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 30, 2006

Marinemax has grown too big for dealers list 

Is it possible for a business to be too good? Boating Industry thinks so. After ranking MarineMax No. 1 on its Top 100 Dealers list for the second straight year, the trade mag will retire the Tampa company from future rankings. Why? With revenue six times larger than its next-biggest rival, MarineMax has the cash to "fuel countless business initiatives" that smaller retailers cannot. In short, it's not only too big, but too good.

Yes, those are Saabs at Dimmitt

They began selling Saabs Wednesday on the Dimmitt Cadillac site in Clearwater. The Dimmitt Motorcar Group acquired Scott Saab's Pinellas Park business, though not its real estate. Scott Buick previously sold its Buick franchise back to General Motors.

Diller has just one word for his critics

IAC/InterActiveCorp chief executive Barry Diller has a name for critics who dubbed him America's most overpaid executive: "birdbrains." Diller said their version of corporate governance is handcuffing American business, according to Reuters. Diller - whose compensation topped $296-million in 2005 - said he had no use for "the cottage industry" of corporate governance research firms such as Corporate Library that came up with the figure and graded IAC a "D" in governance. Most of Diller's 2005 haul come from stock options and grants earned in a single year when he took over the then-dicey HSN Inc. in St. Petersburg 11 years ago. He parlayed the TV shopping network into a conglomerate with a market capitalization of $10-billion.

Local sports baron adds to his empire

Stand back, Malcolm Glazer: Ken Young is the bay area's true sports tycoon. The 56-year-old Tampa resident, who has a stake in two minor-league baseball teams and an American Hockey League franchise, recently picked up two more baseball squads: the Bowie (Md.) Baysox (Class AA) and the Frederick (Md.) Keys (Class High-A). The deal may not have been entirely arms-length; Young is president and part owner of a Lutz company whose majority owner sold him the two Baltimore Orioles' affiliates. But he calls his own shots. Young named the Florida Marlins' Albuquerque affiliate the "Isotopes" after watching an episode of The Simpsons about the Springfield Isotopes.

[Last modified November 29, 2006, 23:45:58]