You want to listen to Smedley, who is a great example of a CEO that has made mistakes and has been attacked from all sides, but the truth is that guy BUILT that division; he did SOMETHING right. He was one of the pioneers, ultimately.
But yeah, if you want to hear and read Smedley, here's some links. He's no fool.
You're going to tell me THIS guy doesn't know his business? Here he is in a 2008 interview.
"John Smedley: Really well! I can give you some numbers: our average customer spends $133 dollars. We have been able to successfully convert 40% of our customers into Legends of Norrath players. 25% of our customers are paying players. We're extremely pleased and pretty shocked at the level of money people are willing to spend in these things. The reason that's important to customers is that, long-term, we can use that same model to make it so that the people that want to pay can help pay for the people that don't. I think it's an ideal business model for this industry."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1dlTZWLlVo
http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/01...-smedley-pt-1/
There are literally thousands of links to interviews and conference calls that this guy has given. He knows every detail of his business. ALL CEO's are like that. They KNOW their businesses, or they would never be in those positions with those incomes. Period.
Now if some kid on the internet wants to post anonymously on a forum that "he wrote scripted investor conference calls" and you want to believe him, go ahead. And while you're at it, go make $100 million dollars, because if CEO's are such idiots, it should be really easy for all the SMART people out there on this forum to just blow right past them.
lol.