Media analyst Tom Wolzien is leaving investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc., planning to semi-retire and start a consulting practice.
Wolzien, 58, spent 14 years as a securities analyst after years as a TV journalist and NBC executive.
He carved out a niche studying the big picture for companies and the media industry and getting a handle on trends before they became trends. (Wolzien has been big on piracy and the threat to cable and DBS of video over Internet, for example.)
During that 14 years some of my calls were very right, and some horribly wrong," Wolzien told clients Friday morning. " Sometimes my industrial views came to pass in a year, sometimes they took a decade to play out."
Wolzien's been clearly scaling back for more than a year and has been talking with Bernstein about leaving for several months.
In an interview, Wolzien, 58, said he is starting a consulting practice, Wolzien LLC, and counts Bernstein as his first client.
He plans to work with major media companies on bigger strategic issues. "Bernstein's been a phenominal place to work," he says. "It appears there are a lot of problems that I can help companies solve during this digital transition; I think I can help."
