The real Mr Big from Sex and the City
The real Mr Big, according to this New York Times story on Ron Galotti,
hacked a singular path through the New York media. As a general in the Condé Nast publishing empire, Mr. Galotti treated ad sales as an all-out war and took on the prerogatives of the publishing life — limousines, parties and celebrity — with stylistic aggression.
While many at Conde Naste think of Galotti's earlier leaving with Tina Brown to start Talk magazine as a betrayal, the CEO Steven Florio and the chairman S.I. Newhouse, Jr also "appreciate his ability to separate money from his clients". So he's back at publisher of GQ but still looks beck at his Talk magazine stint fondly:
"If you look at the whole Talk experience, it was a wonderful thing," he said. "The economy was against us and it didn't work out, but I have no regrets — none."
And Mr. Galotti does not try to outrun his legend as Mr. Big, either. Now married with a young daughter he cannot stop talking about, he said that the character, who has been played by Chris Noth in HBO's "Sex and the City," may come in handy some day.
"My daughter is young and I am 53 years old," Mr. Galotti said. "If she is out on the soccer field when she is 13 or 14 years old, and she can point over at the old guy on the bench and say, `He used to be Mr. Big,' then that will make it O.K."