Dec 30 2008
Commodifying Revolution! Che Guevara 15
NBC Universal, in turn, is a subsidiary of General Electric,* which, in 2005, grossed revenue of upwards of $149.702 billion USD and a net income of $16.353 billion USD.** General Electric is the 40th largest economic entity in the world, with a larger GDP than the countries of Portugal and Venezuela as just two examples.***
To go along with the movie, independent publisher Ocean Press released a “movie tie-in” version of the book complete with a flashy cover filled with images from the movie, thus capitalizing on the release of the film. This book falls within the “Che Guevara Publishing Project” of Ocean Press. The project consists of “A series of books…launched by Ocean Press and the Che Guevara Studies Center (Havana) with the objective of disseminating the works and ideas of Ernesto Che Guevara this most contemporary of radical role models…
this multi-volume series shows Che as a profound thinker with a radical world view, who still strikes a chord with young rebels in every country today.”****
*80% of NBC Universal is owned by GE, the remaining 20% is owned by Vivendi Universal. Focusfeatures.com, “Company Profile,” http://www.focusfeatures.com/home.php (accessed January, 2007).
** GE.com, “Statement of Earnings,” http://www.ge.com/en/company/investor/ar/cfs_e.htm (accessed January, 2007).
*** Corporations.org, “Of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations and 49 are countries,” http://www.corporations.org/system/top100.html (accessed January, 2007).
**** “about us,” http://www.oceanbooks.com.au/about_us.php?osCsid=t55gthma9jnitohmhtsfepsge5 (accessed May, 2007).
