There were other signs of trouble. Stanley demanded that he be paid out of an expense account. For another, nepotism at Pixelon was rampant. According to Reeder, Paul Ward had at least three relatives working at the company, while Reeder had two. Dave Snyder, a board member, had recently taken a paying job at Pixelon, as had Snyder's daughter.
Stanley's management style was also becoming increasingly erratic. Not only was he requiring some employees to work 36-hour shifts, but he was also becoming increasingly abusive.
Perhaps most alarming was a mandatory prayer gathering. One Sunday in August, Stanley instructed all employees to meet in his office for what was described as a worship service to bless a new space Pixelon had just taken over. Among those attending was Robert Feldman, who, although he was Jewish, says he had received an e-mail saying he was expected to attend. Dave Snyder was there with a book of religious scripture in hand. Reeder, who carried a Bible, was also there.
Some say Snyder began the meeting by reading a New Testament passage in which Jesus miraculously feeds 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. As was always the case, the air-conditioning in Stanley's office was turned up high, and it was so dark that the light from a nearby computer monitor cast an eerie glow on Stanley. Stanley's chair sat on a small platform so that he was elevated above everyone else sitting in the room. After the readings, Stanley played a piano and sang a hymn he said he had written. His wife sat close by, wiping tears from her eyes.
Snyder says he remembers reading scriptures with some employees at Pixelon once, but is sure he didn't read the story about the loaves of bread and fish. He also strenuously denies there was anything out of the ordinary about the meeting. "I certainly wasn't trying to equate Michael Fenne with Jesus Christ," says Snyder.
Devore says he was offended by the meeting, but he went along to keep from rocking the boat and because he still had hopes of becoming rich in March, when Pixelon was supposed to go public. "Michael would say in meetings that everybody in this company is going to be a millionaire in a short period of time," says Devore. "The mania [was] the glue that kept the dysfunctional family together."
Up until the fall of 1999, the drama and deception unfolding inside Pixelon was a carefully kept secret, touching perhaps only a few dozen people at most. It likely would have remained that way were it not for iBash '99, Pixelon's extravagant launch party.
Held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Oct. 29, the daylong extravaganza included a reunion by The Who and performances by the Dixie Chicks, Chely Wright, Faith Hill, Tony Bennett, the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Kiss. Originally intended to cost Pixelon only $1 million and take place at Anaheim Stadium, not far from San Juan Capistrano, those modest plans quickly vanished with the hiring of music veteran Danny Socolof as Pixelon's chief marketing officer, according to at least four people familiar with iBash discussions.
The idea behind the event was to get Pixelon's name in front of all kinds of people, from stock brokers addicted to classic rock to truck drivers hooked on country music to senior citizens who liked lounge crooning. The event, the thinking went, would provide the perfect opportunity for Pixelon to showcase its unique ability to broadcast high-quality video live over the Internet. Exclusive rights to the archives of iBash would keep the masses coming back to Pixelon's Web site for months after the event.
But it never happened that way. Despite some spectacular performances, Pixelon was unable to broadcast the event live using the very proprietary platform the event was designed to hype. Even worse, the vast majority of footage from the event never made its way online. If Pixelon meant to become an instant success among a public hungry for unique content on the Web, it became only the object of scorn. "This has got to be the most incompetent, pathetic Internet company I've seen to date," one person wrote in an Internet discussion group after unsuccessfully trying to access iBash footage for days. "Pixelon is a perfect example of how new technology should NOT be used," another frustrated viewer wrote.
