Джеральдин Лейборн: Телевизия және кәсіпкерлік жолы

American entrepreneur and television executive

Geraldine Laybourne (née Bond; born May 19, 1947) is an American entrepreneur and former TV executive. She worked at Nickelodeon from 1980 until 1996, when she became the president of Disney ABC Cable Networks (including Disney Channel). and a tech startup called Katapult. In 2020, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

Laybourne was raised in Martinsville, a rural community of about 400 in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey.

After college, Laybourne had various jobs. From 1969 to 1970, Laybourne worked at Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd, an architecture firm in Philadelphia. where she initiated a focus group approach to programming. Laybourne and her team were responsible for creating and building the Nickelodeon brand, launching Nick at Nite and expanding the network by establishing it in other countries, developing theme parks and creating Nickelodeon magazine, movie, toy and publishing divisions. Under her leadership, Nickelodeon became the top rated 24 hour cable programming service and won Emmy Awards, Peabody Awards, CableACE Awards and Parents' Choice Awards. The network had a 40% profit margin and explosive growth every year. By the time she left Nickelodeon in 1996, it was an $8 billion business. She led the development of two projects that did not come to fruition: ABC 24 Hour News cable channel and ABZ, an innovative education channel. Laybourne played a role in the creation and management of ABC's Saturday morning children's programming schedule, with the successful launch of One Saturday Morning.

In 1998, Laybourne left Disney and partnered with Oprah Winfrey and Carsey Werner Productions to create Oxygen Media, a cable TV company dedicated to creating television and Internet programming for women. She also purchased three women oriented online services from her former MTV boss, Robert W. Pittman. On February 2, 2000 (a date which plays off the chemical compound of oxygen—O2/O2), the Oxygen Network premiered to 10 million subscribers.

In 1970, Laybourne married Kit Laybourne, a television producer, entrepreneur, author, and educator. They have been residents of Montclair, New Jersey and have two children and four grandchildren. Her daughter, Emmy Laybourne, is an author of a series of young adult novels called Monument 14 and is an actress who has appeared in Superstar and other films. Her son Sam is an Emmy nominated writer and producer on shows such as Black ish, Arrested Development, Cougar Town, The Michael J. Fox Show and Grandfathered with John Stamos.