Martha Says Bam!

YumSugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:20:31 -0800

As I've mentioned in the past, there seems to be a lot of interesting things going down at the Food Network. Recently, Emeril Live was canceled, but his reps assured us that he wasn't leaving the network. Well, looks like someone had the wrong information or tried to keep things under wraps because this morning Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced that they bought the rights to the Emeril franchise. Their deal - currently at $50 million, but could potentially be valued at $70 million - will include Emeril's cookbooks, tv shows, food products, kitchen products, and cookware. The deal is not including his eleven restaurants.

Everything is expected to go through later this year. Susan Lyne, president and CEO of MSLO, said:

Emeril brings talent, energy, and legions of fans to the Martha Stewart family, along with a powerful brand and an attractive, profitable business franchise.

I was really hoping she'd just say, "BAM!" instead.

So what do you think of this move? Do you think it's smart for them to take on Emeril?

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Martha Expands Her Empire

partysugar — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:57:53 -0700

With a brand new home collection at Macy's under her belt - have you seen the commercials with Tim Gunn? - Martha Stewart has announced another partnership, this time with E.J. Gallo Winery. In this partnership, she will be producing her own collection of wines known as Martha Stewart Vintage. According to USA Today, a spokeswoman for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia explained why the venture was a natural fit.

Wine is an important part of entertaining and cooking. We have a lot of credibility and a strong brand equity in these categories.

The wines, a Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvingon, and Merlot, are all produced in Sonoma County, but will only be available in select cities nationwide. If you live in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix, or Portland, come January you can have a taste of Martha's wine. It will retail for $15 a bottle.

I'm wondering what's next for Martha? What hasn't she done? A line of solar powered cars?

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