Chile’s strongest earthquake in 50 years may bankrupt smaller winemakers after vines collapsed, casks broke apart and millions of liters were spilled, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker-turned-winemaker said.

The O. Fournier winery, located in the south-central Maule Valley region about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the quake’s epicenter, lost 35 feet (10.7 meters) of vines to the Loncomilla River, owner Jose Manuel Ortega said. While O. Fournier is set to recover and the industry “will bounce back quickly,” Ortega said, some wineries are likely to fold as the quake’s damage compounds a slump in sales caused by the global economic crisis.

“One-hundred and fifty years of history and it’s gone,” Ortega said March 5 as he surveyed the ruins of the main house on the Valley’s Gillmore estate, toppled by the 8.8-magnitude temblor that struck Feb. 27. “We are coming from a financial earthquake to a real one. Some wineries will disappear.”

Wine is the fifth-largest export product for Chile, the world’s 10th biggest producer, according to the California-based Wine Institute. In 2008, the most recent year with official data, exports rose 9.6 percent to $1.4 billion, according to the nation’s export promotion agency ProChile.

Chile, the world’s biggest copper producer, may also be hit by another “large” temblor in the copper-rich North, said Jaime Campos, director of the International Center to Investigate Earthquakes Montessus de Ballore. An earthquake as strong as magnitude 8.5 may strike along a 670-kilometer (416- mile) stretch that runs from Mejillones to Arica, he said. The forecast doesn’t include a specific timeframe.

‘Cinderella Valley’

Unlike most Maule Valley producers, Ortega says he uses centuries-old vines instead of planting new ones. Partly because of this, he calls his farms there “My Cinderella Valley.”

“We moved those grapes that everyone thought was the cleaning lady, and turned them into a princess,” he said.

Damage from the earthquake to wine vats caused losses of 125 million liters (33 million gallons), or an estimated $250 million, Chile’s association of winemakers said March 3. Concha y Toro SA, the nation’s largest producer, suspended harvesting and bottling operations after the temblor struck, the company said in a March 3 statement filed with the securities regulator.

“It is total destruction here,” Renato Guerra, who owns two wineries in the Maule Valley, said in a telephone interview. “All our 2009 harvest was in steel tanks and it represented the entire 2010 production. It is all lost.”

Balduzzi Winery

At the Balduzzi winery in San Javier, 275 kilometers (171 miles) south of Santiago, four 15-foot high stainless-steel tanks lay on their sides, crumpled like beer cans. Full of wine when the quake hit, they burst and sent a river of wine, some waiting since 2005 to be bottled, cascading into the streets.

The company, founded in 1906, lost about 600,000 bottles that day, or more than half its annual production. “All of it is gone,” operations manager Jorge Eduardo Balduzzi said.

Spain’s Miguel Torres SA, which has made wine for 140 years, said 300 of its casks, a 100,000-liter stainless steel tank, machinery and bottles were damaged at its Curico vineyard.

Ortega, originally from Spain, started producing wine in Chile in 2007, seven years after he founded O. Fournier in Spain’s Ribera del Duero region. The company also bottles wine in Argentina and Portugal.

The risk of not supplying wine after the quake is that foreign clients will turn elsewhere for supplies, according to Ortega.

“See You Later”

“Your importers will say: ‘See you later,’” he said.

Before becoming a winemaker, Ortega worked for Goldman Sachs in London from 1990 to 1995, first in the mergers-and- acquisition office and later in corporate finance. He then moved to Banco Santander SA, whose private-equity fund he started.

“We are certain that in the short term, shipments and meeting orders will return to normal without major problems,” Rene Merino, president of the Wines of Chile, an industry association, said at a March 3 press conference in Santiago.

The wine harvest, which traditionally begins March 1, will proceed normally, Eduardo Silva, vice president of Chile’s Wine Corporation, another industry association, said at the same conference.

Still, a bad year for Chilean wine producers won’t affect world markets, Jon Fredrikson, a wine researcher at San Francisco-based Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, said in a March 5 telephone interview.

Bulk Wine

“Fifty percent of Chile’s exports are bulk wine, which is relatively easy to replace because there’s so much wine out there this year,” Fredrikson said.

Rebuilding in Chile will require at least $4.8 billion, including $3.6 billion for hospitals and $1.2 billion for roads, bridges and ports, government officials said yesterday. Costs may reach as much as $30 billion, according to estimates by disaster-scenario modeler Eqecat Inc. PartnerpartnRe Ltd., the Bermuda- based reinsurer, said insured losses will be as much as $10 billion.

But MySpace, nestled in the entertainment capital of the world, thinks it can survive — even thrive — as a repository for all things music, Avatar and Twilight for the under-35 crowd.

"It would be silly to count us out," says Jason Hirschhorn, who, with Mike Jones, runs the company as co-president. They replaced Owen Van Natta, who was jettisoned as CEO last month after less than 10 months on the job.

"There is a pulse of pop culture on MySpace," says Hirschhorn, a former MTV executive. "It is the place where 100 million people congregate, and hundreds of thousands sign up every day,"

They have their work cut out. MySpace, a unit of News Corp. Digital, has stumbled through two CEO resignations in the past year, while Facebook and Twitter surged. (Van Natta's predecessor, Chris DeWolfe, left in April 2009.) Nonetheless, MySpace remains one of the Internet's most enduring brands. It is profitable, and it is expected to haul in more than $350 million in revenue this year — mostly from ads.

Hirschhorn acknowledges that every major brand goes through plateaus, but says the strong ones overcome them. He and Jones concede that MySpace's online traffic had flattened last spring, user engagement was down, and its products lacked focus and vision. But with an ambitious rebranding now underway, they foresee a renewal in its fortunes. The company is hiring engineers designers and marketers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

MySpace is moving back to its original DNA: appealing to self-expressive, creative under-35-year-olds who are into games, music and movies. More than half of MySpace's estimated 100 million users are 25 and younger, according to market researcher ComScore. The 13-to-34-year-old demographic spends 84% of all user time on the service.

MySpace intends to appeal to that demographic with a mantra of "Discover and be discovered," a fancy way of saying it wants to be the online venue to find new friends, movie trailers, little-known bands and social games.

The rebranding is illustrated in design mockups splashed across the walls of a user-experience lab here: simple, clean pages with vibrant looks designed to draw artists, hard-core social-media users, brand managers and others. There is even talk of a new company logo.

In its pursuit of customers, MySpace has reinvented itself in several ways:

•New user home pages, released last month, are heavy on live personal content, but without the clutter once associated with the original MySpace design. "The product got too big and congested," Jones says, looking at a simplified new interface mockup. "It became unfocused."

•Forthcoming profiles for celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Angelina Jolie are easier to navigate and offer encyclopedic data on their subjects.

•Social-gaming firm Playdom is helping MySpace reinvigorate its gaming channel. This month, it launches Wild Ones, a shoot-'em-up already available on Facebook, on MySpace. More games, including ones exclusive to MySpace, are on the way. "Thirty percent of our users play games; we think it should be at least 50%," says Jones, a former AOL executive.

•Through its constant tweets on Twitter, MySpace has developed into a heavy-duty entertainment news service for music, celebrities and youth-oriented movies such as New Moon and Alice in Wonderland. Twitter and MySpace have also synced services, so tweets or status updates on one service are automatically duplicated on the other.

MySpace is not only reinventing itself, but recasting the competitive climate. "When we think about Twitter and Facebook, we don't think about competition as much as we think about partnership, distribution and synchronization," Hirschhorn says.

Yet can MySpace — once the undisputed king of social networking — remain relevant as a scaled-down Web portal for music and entertainment news? Industry analysts, including Debra Aho Williamson, aren't so sure. They say MySpace faces an obstacle course of competitors, starting with the omnipresent Facebook and now including Google Buzz.

"For months we've heard about the company's plan to refocus on its historic roots in music and entertainment," says Williamson, of market researcher eMarketer. "But the turnaround has been painfully slow, and this shakeup will only reinforce the perception that MySpace can't be fixed."

Though millions of people use MySpace Music, the company "clearly needs to find its next big" thing, says Richard Greenfield, an analyst at investment brokerage BTIG. "This is no easy task and may require a meaningful acquisition, maybe of a social-gaming company like Zynga or a start-up."

Since Facebook's audience overtook MySpace last May — 70.3 million unique users vs. 70.2 million — it has widened its lead dramatically. Today, Facebook boasts 400 million members, about four times as many as MySpace.

As audiences melt from MySpace, so are marketers, says researcher eMarketer. Facebook will surpass MySpace in advertising revenue this year for the first time — a year earlier than expected, it says.

EMarketer estimates ad spending on MySpace will fall 21% this year, to $385 million, worldwide. It expects Facebook to rake in $605 million in ads worldwide this year, up 39% from 2009. If not for a three-year, $900 million search deal with Google that is set to expire by midyear, MySpace's revenue would be lower, Williamson says.

MySpace's Jones says his company is still in discussions with Google to possibly extend the deal, or it could partner with others in the future.

"MySpace has been good at monetization, and others notice that," he says.

Privately held Facebook, by comparison, could vacuum up $700 million to $1.1 billion in revenue this year, based on estimates from analysts including Forrester Research's Augie Ray. However, Trip Chowdhry, of Global Equities Research, says $350 million to $500 million is more accurate.

"MySpace rested on their laurels, got complacent and failed to innovate," says Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at market researcher Altimeter Group.

Return to its roots

Facebook's dominance notwithstanding, MySpace and others can thrive in fragmented spaces, such as music and entertainment news, says Eric Mandl, head of large-cap tech banking at UBS.

MySpace remains a force in music. More than 13 million bands, from Pearl Jam to garage bands, find it a vibrant tool to communicate with fans.

"Their brand was born in the music community, as a hub for attracting bands and fans," says Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, an online music service."There still is a tremendous loyalty toward MySpace, and it is a monster audience. They were the first mass destination and home for DIY artists. Bands remember that."

And, yes, MySpace's appeal lingers for celebrities and creative types.

Cindy Margolis, a former Playboy Playmate with 16,000 people on her MySpace fan page, still finds it a useful marketing tool. It is part of her PR strategy to promote her Fox Reality Channel show, Seducing Cindy. She also uses Facebook and a personal website.

"To keep my loyal cyberbuddies, I need MySpace," she says. "It is a huge vehicle to gain, and maintain, thousands of followers. Facebook is more intimate. They are two different spaces."

"It's great to get feedback on the shows that I do, which can be complicated," says Bobby Roth, who has directed episodes of Prison Break, Lost and FlashForward. He has 10,000 friends on MySpace.

MySpace's enduring appeal to millions, with the backing of Fox, has not been lost on software developers like Jon Siegal, CEO of Fan Appz, a Facebook application that helps celebrities and athletes market themselves to fans. Siegal and others are interested in working with MySpace.

"The game isn't over for (MySpace)," Owyang says. "They still have a strong foothold, the opportunity to try new tactics, if their management team — and internal culture — can quickly come into alignment."

Says Hirschhorn, "We will always be culturally relevant. And we'll be here in five, 10 years."

Outside, dozens of protesters expressed dismay over his nomination.

The award is presented to players who exemplify commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. Each NFL team selects their own recipient, and most of the winners were on hand for the gala event Tuesday night.

Vick was picked as the Philadelphia Eagles' representative by a unanimous vote of his teammates. Once a star quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons, Vick was convicted in 2007 for his role in a dogfighting ring and served 18 months in federal prison.

"I'm very humbled to be here," Vick said before the award ceremony. "I'm blessed to be voted by my peers, to be here, and this is an opportunity that I will take advantage of and cherish forever."

It was the first award he received since being reinstated by the NFL in September 2009.

"It shows I'm making strides," Vick said. "I'm trying to do the right thing."

There were police cars at every driveway of the parking lot, and security inside the building was heavier than usual at the 32nd annual event.

Many of the protesters outside carried signs, one of which said, "No Award For Dog Killers."

Erin Marcus, of Open The Cages Alliance, said, "I don't think there have been enough time for him to show the proper remorse for what he's done to animals."

Many of the other 2009 Ed Block Award winners rebounded from serious injuries to excel in 2009, such as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady , San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae and Baltimore Ravens safety Dawan Landry.

Vick, of course, had to bounce back from something entirely different.

"I think I do exemplify what this award stands for," Vick insisted. "I think everybody has the right to their own opinion. But I feel like I've done everything that I said I would do, coming out and moving forward. My peers felt like I was doing the right thing, and that I display courage and sportsmanship and leadership. I value their opinion."

Vick did more than just show up to collect a piece of hardware. He spent hours Monday and Tuesday speaking to kids at a community center and at the Baltimore Ravens Courage House, which houses abused children.

"It's easy to see, when you spend a couple of days with Michael Vick, why his Philadelphia Eagles teammates picked him as the Courage Award winner. It's been that impressive," Ed Block spokesman Paul Mittermeier said.

Mittermeier said the Eagles will dedicate a Courage House in Philadelphia next year on behalf of Vick.

Vick was signed as a free agent with Philadelphia during the preseason and playing sparingly in 2009 as the backup to Donovan McNabb. The Eagles have exercised their 2010 option on Vick, meaning the quarterback will receive a $1.5 million roster bonus sometime this week, and the rest of his $5.25 million 2010 salary will be paid by either Philadelphia or another NFL franchise.

"The Eagles picking up the roster bonus, it's a blessing for me, a blessing for my family," Vick said. "As far as I know, I'm a Philadelphia Eagle, and I will carry out the role I've been playing. We'll see what happens. The entire organization knows I want to be a starter."

Off the field, Vick has worked with The Humane Society of the United States, speaking at churches, schools and community groups about the poor judgment he showed in getting involved in dogfighting.

"Michael Vick approached us and said he wanted to be part of the solution instead of the problem," Michael Markarian, executive vice president and CEO of the Humane Society, said before the event. "We asked him if he do volunteer work, go to communities all over the country and talk to at-risk youth and try to steer them away from dogfighting."

Markarian said Vick has told his story in "about a dozen" cities.

"The Humane Society of the United States was the toughest critic of Michael Vick when these allegations first came to light," Markarian said. "But we want to find creative solutions to try to reach kids, particularly young men, who get pitbulls for the wrong reason. They are really moved after they hear Michael Vick's story, and it turns them away from dogfighting."

Which, to some, explains why Vick received the Ed Block Courage Award.

The award, named after longtime Baltimore Colts trainer Ed Block, was first presented in 1978.

Bank of America's new policy — which takes effect in mid-June for new customers and early August for existing customers — comes amid intense public scrutiny of financial institutions' overdraft fees. In 2009, banks earned about $38.5 billion from overdraft and insufficient-funds fees, estimates Moebs Services, an economic research firm.

Congress is weighing legislation to crack down on these fees. And the Federal Reserve has issued a rule that requires financial institutions to get consumers' consent before charging them to pay certain debit card and ATM overdrafts.

BofA's new policy goes beyond what's required by the Fed rule, which takes effect July 1. BofA isn't the first to deny debit card overdrafts —Citigroup doesn't let customers overdraw at the point of sale or at the ATM — but it's the largest to do so.

"What our customers told us is that, if I don't have the money, I don't want to overdraft" with debit cards, says Susan Faulkner, head of BofA's deposits and card products business. Also, "We don't think our customers would come in and opt in" to debit card overdrafts and their fees.

BofA customers can still sign up for a formal program to cover debit card overdrafts. The bank already caps overdraft fees at four a day and no longer charges a fee if an account is overdrawn by less than $10 a day. BofA is the largest U.S. issuer of debit cards, with about 15% of all cards in the country, says the Center for Responsible Lending. In 2008, the latest data available, consumers used BofA debit cards for $220.3 billion in purchases, the center estimates, using data from Nilson Report, a payments newsletter.

Because of BofA's size, its new policy could be a "game changer," says Martin Eakes, CEO of the Center for Responsible Lending. "My hope is that this will provide the tipping point where the rest of America's financial institutions will voluntarily do away with hidden overdraft fees."

Other banks may follow BofA's lead in refusing debit card overdrafts if they believe most customers won't opt into the service and its fees, says Ellen Seidman, a former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision now at public policy group New America Foundation.

But as banks change their overdraft policies, they'll have to find income from other kinds of fees, says Bob Meara, a senior analyst at Celent, a research firm: "It would be self-evident that banks will need to recoup at least a portion of this (overdraft fee) revenue."