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American Morning

Martha Stewart's Business Plans; Interview With Steve Fossett, Sir Richard Branson

Aired March 04, 2005 - 07:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's 7:30 here in New York on a Friday morning. I'm Bill Hemmer.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad this morning. Good morning.

HEMMER: Nice to have you along with us today. In a moment here, Martha Stewart has been out of jail for seven hours, and her business empire is already set a new launch for some very big plans. We'll check into that. Allan Chernoff is standing by in upstate New York. We'll get to him in a moment.

COSTELLO: She's only been out for seven hours?

HEMMER: Seven hours.

COSTELLO: It seems like she's been out for days now.

HEMMER: That's right.

COSTELLO: Also coming up, Steve Fossett and Sir Richard Branson will be with us just ahead. We'll ask about what went on during the record-setting trip around the world and what these adventurers plan to do next.

HEMMER: He has just so many world records, too, doesn't he?

COSTELLO: Three.

HEMMER: About a dozen.

COSTELLO: Oh, more than a dozen.

HEMMER: Yes, all kinds of stuff, kayaking and planes. You name it.

COSTELLO: We'll ask him what there is left to do.

HEMMER: We will. Here's Kelly Wallace with the headlines this morning also.

Good morning, Kelly, nice to have you, too.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Happy Friday to you. Happy Friday to all of you as well.

"Now in the News."

This just in to CNN, a large fire burning in Virginia. There are flames and lots of smoke. You're looking at these live pictures now. It is believed to be a home in Fairfax, Virginia. Fire crews on the scene there. Not clear if there are any injuries. We will keep an eye on this story and bring you more details as they come in.

President Bush's Social Security blitz is on. The president is taking his reform plans on the road today. His first stop is New Jersey. He later heads to Indiana. It's all part of a 60-day tour to sell his ideas on Social Security to the American people.

There is word today Syria may be preparing to pull out of Lebanon. According to reports, Syria's president, Bashar Assad, is expected to announce a partial withdrawal of his troops. That announcement could come during a speech tomorrow. Syria has been under intense international pressure to pull out troops since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lebanon blames Syria for that attack. Syrian officials deny the claim.

To California now and the Michael Jackson trial. The sister of Jackson's accuser is set to be back on the stand today. The 18-year- old told the court Jackson had the family flown to Miami before a controversial TV documentary about him aired, and urged the family not to watch it. The trial is set to resume at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. Lots of attention still on that trial.

HEMMER: Almost one week down.

WALLACE: Almost one week down.

HEMMER: Five months to go.

WALLACE: Exactly.

HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

HEMMER: After spending five months in a federal prison, Martha Stewart is back home in her suburban New York City estate at this hour. Walking side by side with her daughter, Alexis, Stewart, looking thin and stylish, waved to supporters before boarding for that plane flight home.

Upon her release, Martha posted this statement on her Web site. Stewart says -- quote: "The experience of the last five months in Alderson, West Virginia, has been life-altering and life-affirming. I can tell you now that I feel very fortunate to have had a family that nurtured me, the advantage of an excellent education and the opportunity to pursue the American dream."

Stewart arrived shortly after 2:00 a.m. today at her 153-acre compound in Westchester County, where she will serve the next five months under house arrest. And the fortunes of Martha Stewart's company have mirrored those of its founder. And now with Stewart out of jail, it's poised for a comeback as well.

Allan Chernoff has that story near Stewart's home in Bedford, New York, with more on the future of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Allan -- good morning there.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.

And it was actually 2:30 in the morning when Martha Stewart drove up the road and finally entered her home after five months in prison.

She still has five months of home detention, but she'll be permitted to go out for work. And you can be sure she'll be very active with her company, because it has some big plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice over): Martha Stewart's company is looking to expand where it has never ventured: into the freezer case with frozen foods, into home improvement, with cabinets, perhaps windows and doors.

GAEL TOWEY, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MARTHA STEWART OMNIMEDIA: I think home improvement is a wonderful direction for us, because we really -- Martha has renovated a lot of houses herself. So I think we'll see a lot of activity in this area.

CHERNOFF: The company that turned crafts and food into an art form is hoping for a big expansion, says chief executive Susan Lyne.

SUSAN LYNE, CEO, MARTHA STEWART OMNIMEDIA: I believe this is our biggest, single asset at this company is that brand and that brand equity. And we will build with it.

CHERNOFF: Until now, Martha Stewart has been calling attention to K-mart shoppers, where her line of everyday products is sold. With K-mart buying Sears, there should be new outlets for Stewart. The company's plans, though, are bigger: a homemaker's invasion of China.

But the first brand extension will use the TV archive for how-to videos. Also in the works: delivering content online. Easter basket tips, for example, downloaded to your computer or wireless device.

LYNE: We are doing a lot of thinking, a lot of developing, a lot of exploring of many different options in every area we work in.

CHERNOFF: Martha Stewart will have clout, but she's not returning as an executive of the company. Her most important role: persuade America to once again embrace the marketing of Martha Stewart.

She'll host a new version of "The Apprentice," though it won't generate revenue for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The company does plan to profit from its new daytime Martha Stewart lifestyle show, to premiere this fall.

The biggest challenge: the company desperately needs to revive its trademark magazine, "Martha Stewart Living." Since 2002, when Stewart's legal problems were just beginning, circulation has dropped 20 percent, to an average of 1.9 million last year. Advertising has plummeted nearly 70 percent, down to $72 million last year. Ad executives predict a rebound. The question is, how high?

DAVID LAMB, JWT, CHIEF STRATEGIC OFFICER: In the short term, any contact with Martha Stewart has to be examined as an opportunity. The more worrying thing is whether that opportunity disappears after a very short time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Five months in prison has done much to rehabilitate Martha Stewart's image, and it certainly is giving the company a jump start. But a full rehab of the company's financials could take far longer -- Bill.

HEMMER: Allan, thanks for that.

Later tonight, a special edition of "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" here on CNN, featuring Martha's makeover. Tune in for that at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, Bill, now to the adventurers. First by balloon, now by plane. Steve Fossett is once again around-the-world record- holder. Fossett became the first pilot to fly solo around the world on one tank of fuel. There were some touch-and-go moments, but he did land safely in Salina, Kansas.

Fossett joins us this morning to talk about what it was like piloting the experimental jet. Also with us, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and sponsor of this flight.

Welcome, gentlemen.

SIR RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN ATLANTIC: Thank you.

STEVE FOSSETT, GLOBAL FLYER PILOT: It's good to be here.

COSTELLO: Steve, you looked so wobbly when you got out of the plane. Are you OK this morning?

FOSSETT: I had a bit of sea legs effect coming out. But I got five hours of sleep last night and feeling good.

COSTELLO: Oh, great. I was going to ask Sir Richard, I mean, was there a party last night? Or did Steve have to go to bed?

BRANSON: There was a party. And, of course, Steve made it to the party. And he's a pretty remarkable, a pretty resilient, a pretty incredible person. And as he said, over the last night, he's only had now five hours of sleep, and that was last night. So he looks pretty darn good in it. COSTELLO: And it's good you gave him a shower, too, because I know he said he really wanted one yesterday. All right, I want to get...

BRANSON: Yes, he needed a shower, actually. I welcomed him out of the cockpit.

COSTELLO: OK, I'm going to get the controversial stuff out of the way right now. You know what people are saying about this fuel leak, that nobody was much paying attention to this flight because, you know, Martha Stewart was much in the news. And they thought this fuel leak was perhaps exaggerated somewhat to generate more interest in this flight. Can you address that, Steve?

FOSSETT: Well, I don't know. It was a serious problem to me. I mean, this was all about having enough fuel to fly around the world. And to come up short 2,000 pounds of fuel, I just didn't know how I would make it to the finish. But we worked on it, and I flew very fuel-efficiently. And somehow or another, I managed to make it all the way back.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, Sir Richard, how many Web hits -- people were going on the Web, like, what, 75 million hits right after this word of this fuel leak leaked out. That's incredible. That did generate a lot of interest.

BRANSON: There was -- and I think in the two days, there were 200 million people went onto the Web, which the "Guinness Book of Records," people say, is actually a record for any event, which is pretty remarkable that, you know, so many people around the world just wanted to participate in what was a really historic, wonderful flight.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about making records, Steve, because you've made many. What, 60? You've set 60 records? Is that accurate?

FOSSETT: Oh, before this flight, I had broken 102 world records total.

COSTELLO: Why do you do that? I mean, where's the passion in it for you?

FOSSETT: Well, I got into it 12 years ago when I broke my first world record and was sailing around Ireland. And, you know, I got very fascinated with this, because it was doing something faster, farther or higher than anybody else has done it. And I thought, you know, that feels really good when you can do that.

COSTELLO: I know. But other than feeling really good, I mean, how does it -- I just -- I think it's amazing, but I just don't get it, because you sit there one day and you say, hey, I think I'm going to fly a plane around the world on one tank of gas.

FOSSETT: Well, but these -- you know, but then when I start thinking about these things, I think of very interesting things to do. And, you know, I never run out of good ideas. There are more good ideas in future. But I've really been able to...

COSTELLO: Like what?

FOSSETT: Oh, I can't tell you.

COSTELLO: Come on! Like what?

FOSSETT: But, you know, the more I get into this, the more good ideas that I have. And, you know, I mean, I'll still be doing this, you know, five years from now, 10. You know, 30 years from now maybe I'll still have some good ideas to pursue.

COSTELLO: We hope so.

BRANSON: Space travel is something which we're -- in two and a half years' time, we're going to start sending people into space. And that we're building some spacecraft. So, since a lot of the records on Earth have been conquered, and space perhaps is the next big frontier.

COSTELLO: The next frontier. Sir Richard Branson and Steve Fossett, thank you for joining AMERICAN MORNING this morning.

BRANSON: Thank you.

HEMMER: It's 20 minutes now before the hour, Carol. Back to Chad, looking outside toward the weekend on this Friday.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: He used to be on top of the business world. But thanks to one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history, his fate now rests in the hands of jurors. Andy is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

HEMMER: Also, Halle Berry and Oprah Winfrey are teaming up for a TV project this Sunday night. Does the dream team deliver the goods? A good question for our "90-Second Pop" team this morning. That's still to come this hour in a moment here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's time to check in with Jack and the "Question of the Day."

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, ma'am.

Twenty-three thousand miles, 67 hours, Steve Fossett in the world record books for a solo trip around the globe without refueling. The plane landed in Salina, Kansas, yesterday.

The question we're monkeying with on this Friday is: What world record would you like to break? Some of the answers are as follows:

David in New Brunswick: "The record I'd like to see broken is maybe see someone make the largest cash donation toward the world's needy, rather than waste it on balloon trips around the world."

Rex in Toronto: "Jack, I'd like to break the world record for most e-mails read by Jack Cafferty on AMERICAN MORNING. I figure it's between me, Dave in Japan and Reg in Thunder Bay."

You probably got it.

Amy in Cleveland Heights, Ohio: "Breaking the very latest world record, longest use of cheapest piece of Salvation Army furniture. The CNN AMERICAN MORNING couch."

We have been complaining about this furniture for three years since we moved into this studio. We have new boss now. He's this new executive producer. Her name is Kim Bondie (ph). And she apparently got in a lot of trouble in Atlanta. So she was sent up here to ride herd on this thing. And maybe during what they call the honeymoon period, she could, you know, talk to the powers that be out of 500 bucks so we could go to Ikea and get some furniture.

Work on that will you, Kim?

Robert writes from Washington: "I'd like to break the record Martha Stewart just broke: making money while sitting in jail per month."

I mean, she made hundreds of millions of dollars, I think, sitting down there.

And finally, Tim in Minnesota writes: "I'm already sick to death of the Martha Stewart coverage. Maybe the real story should be headlined: media serves as lapdog for wealthy ex-convict. Give us all a break."

Oh, "IN THE MONEY," could be the next governor of Texas. I hope he is. We're talking about Kinky Friedman, who is a singer, a comic, country gentleman. He used to front Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys. He's going to be our guest on "IN THE MONEY."

We'll talk to him about his campaign to quote -- "stop the wussification (ph) of Texas." He says Texas is the last stand between the complete collapse of this country due to political correctness and the values of the Old West. Tomorrow at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00 on "IN THE MONEY." His campaign slogan? "How tough could it be?"

HEMMER: Tell us. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

HEMMER: Andy is back now. A big jobs report later out this morning. Good morning to you. What do you expect for that and also looking back to the markets from yesterday?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, we'll talk about the markets first of all. We'll get to that number in a second.

A mixed picture yesterday on Wall Street. You can see the Dow is up nicely here. Tech stocks didn't fare as well. Wal-Mart up nearly 2 percent. I told you about the retailers having a pretty good February. Boeing up 4 percent yesterday. Now that stock is back up to pre-9/11 levels. If you bought that at the low, you would have made a lot of money.

Jobs report coming out for the month of February, 8:30 Eastern. Looking at an addition of 225,000 jobs. That's hopeful, because if you get more than that 200,000 number that's a lot. Unemployment rate is supposed to hold at 5.2. The last time we cracked 200,000 was May. And we've missed seven out of the last eight months. So optimism is still reigning. We will have to see.

The WorldCom trial. Bernie Ebbers, yesterday, his lawyer, Reid Weingarten (ph), sort of busting on the government's witness, Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer. Some name-calling. I don't there's -- there was some name-calling yesterday. He called him a "snitch." He called Scott Sullivan a snitch.

COSTELLO: Oh, my god!

SERWER: And then he also said, jurors, this man is like an actor who plays Hamlet on Broadway. The last time Hamlet was on Broadway was 1995. Ray Fines (ph) by the way. It goes to the jury today.

And as far as handicapping this one, I don't think anyone really knows. It's just Sullivan versus Ebbers. Who do you believe?

HEMMER: Yes.

SERWER: Eleven billion dollars fraud.

CAFFERTY: Except that $11 billion disappeared and Ebbers was running the company during the time it disappeared.

SERWER: Well, there is that little detail, isn't there, Jack? Thank you for bringing that up.

CAFFERTY: Except for that, yes.

SERWER: Yes, you're right.

HEMMER: Thank you, guys.

The softer side of Martha Stewart in a moment here. From prison time, does it do her right? 90-second poppers dissect that fresh new look from midnight last night. That's next after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Name that tune. Come on.

TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: What was that? I failed.

HEMMER: "90-Second Pop" on a Friday. Say hello to Toure. We call it pop. He calls it pop. The prince of urban populism is back. Jessi Klein, comedian from VH-1's "Best Week Ever." Good morning, Jess. Welcome back.

JESSI KLEIN, COMEDIAN: Hi. Good morning. Thank you.

HEMMER: And B.J. Sigmund from "Us Weekly" back from the Oscars in L.A.

Good morning.

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good to see you.

HEMMER: The Martha machine rolls on. Carol says she's bringing back the poncho, by the way.

SIGESMUND: Absolutely. Well, let's talk...

HEMMER: A classy act last night?

SIGESMUND: Completely classy. This was 12:30 a.m. We've got to see the video. This was a history-making walk by Martha Stewart, absolutely. You've got to see when they run the video, the jeans, that knit poncho, ever so fashionable. Look at those high heels.

This is a 63-year-old woman, a complete 180 from the frumpy Martha Stewart that we got to know in the '90s. Look at that little hair flip. This was like an Oscar walk that I just saw on Sunday night.

But you know what? Martha has always been amazing at manipulating her own image. She made sure that she had execs from Martha Stewart Omnimedia there to make sure that this image went around the world. And it was amazing. Fashion history and personality.

HEMMER: How many people go to prison and come back a billionaire?

TOURE: Well, she...

HEMMER: That's what her net worth is back again.

TOURE: But not just that. Like, she's so hip-hop, right? Like, you do your time with pride, chin up, no problem, and you get moral authority and, like, integrity out of it.

KLEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), she's got a sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) now.

TOURE: She's got (UNINTELLIGIBLE) now.

KLEIN: Well, you know, I was talking to Wendy in the makeup room, and we were watching the footage. And she goes, I want to go to prison, like, if I can come out looking that good. Let's all go.

HEMMER: You know, we're kind of happy with Wendy around here. We really don't want to kiss her off to West Virginia. How much of this is overkill?

TOURE: Today is the day. I mean...

HEMMER: Come on!

TOURE: We can't get enough.

SIGESMUND: We've been talking about this day forever.

TOURE: We can't get enough.

SIGESMUND: This kicks off in earnest the comeback that we've been speaking about for two months now.

TOURE: Yes.

SIGESMUND: And now comes the TV shows.

TOURE: Yes.

SIGESMUND: And her stock will rise more.

TOURE: We thought she was over when she went to jail.

SIGESMUND: She's a fashion icon.

HEMMER: Right.

TOURE: So not over.

HEMMER: Listen, let's move to the next topic. Martha Stewart said before she went to jail, she said the spring garden is just around the corner. It's time to get things growing again.

KLEIN: Oh, Hallmark.

HEMMER: Sunday night, ABC, Halle Berry and Oprah Winfrey team up. The movie is called "Their Eyes Were Watching God," based on a novel.

TOURE: The novel.

HEMMER: How good is it?

TOURE: The great novel. I watched it last night. It's pretty darn good. Janie Crawford, the star of "Their Eyes Were Watching God," is the original "Desperate Housewife." She has, like, three different husbands, and she kisses another guy. Halle has this great sexy kiss with her new boyfriend.

HEMMER: Which is getting all the publicity, by the way, before the movie comes out.

TOURE: I mean, this is good. It's interesting. She has -- three times, she says, I'm watching God, which I don't think Janie Crawford actually says in the book. So that's a little creepy. But overall, this is pretty good. They stayed pretty close. It's good.

KLEIN: The thing that I think is funny is that Oprah said one of the reasons she wanted to make this movie is so that more people would read the book. But one way to get me to not read a book is to make a movie of it, where Halle Berry is eating fruit out of someone's hand.

SIGESMUND: I will say that the sex that everyone is talking about I think is eclipsing the greater meaning of this book. I think Oprah had something else in mind nine years ago when she bought this book. It's an historical book.

HEMMER: But that kiss is going to drive some viewers to watch the show Sunday night.

TOURE: I just love the whole project.

HEMMER: Quickly.

TOURE: Because it's like the black woman, superhero summit. Oprah, Halle, Zora Neale Hurston. The great playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks, adapted it. So it's just like all of these superheroes coming together, able to leap powerful white men in a single bound. It's like yes.

HEMMER: Third topic. Look at this superhero. This is a...

TOURE: Superhero.

HEMMER: Do we have the picture?

KLEIN: Let's look at the picture.

HEMMER: Star Jones apparently is now the target of PETA.

KLEIN: Oh!

HEMMER: That is not Star Jones. That's a drag queen from here in New York.

TOURE: Artilla DeBarge (ph).

HEMMER: What's happening, Jess? What's the story?

KLEIN: It's so good. I have one word for you in terms of the resemblance between these two: uncanny. It is uncanny. The only difference, I would say, is that Star Jones is a little bit more flamboyant than the drag queen.

TOURE: This is from PETA.

KLEIN: The drag queen hasn't quite captured that.

TOURE: Right. This is from PETA. They're trying to make fun of her for wearing fur. PETA has a dream enemy in Star, because she looks ridiculous every day. So the easiest idea in the world to sell is that she looks ridiculous in fur. HEMMER: And we should...

TOURE: It's so easy. Ergo (ph), ergo (ph), you, regular consumer, look ridiculous in fur. But what Star really needs to do is she needs to get the other PWETA on her side, People Who Eat Tasty Animals. And that would...

SIGESMUND: But we haven't talked about the fact that Star Jones is -- her lawyers are demanding that PETA not go through with this advertising campaign. She says, you know, it's against the First Amendment to use someone's image in advertising. She seems to have no sense of humor at all. Anna Wintor (ph), the editor of "Vogue," famously has never bothered with PETA, even though they have trashed her in the past.

HEMMER: By the way, this is just a picture. The ad has not been produced just yet.

SIGESMUND: They just produced it yesterday.

HEMMER: And it's already getting some publicity.

SIGESMUND: Right.

TOURE: I don't even know...

HEMMER: Thanks...

TOURE: How did fur become cool again? How did it happen?

KLEIN: People want to do what Star Jones does. Not!

HEMMER: Pick up Jessi this weekend. Did I mention Martha Stewart's not in jail anymore?

KLEIN: She's out!

HEMMER: Thanks. See you guys. We'll see all three of you later.

KLEIN: Thanks.

HEMMER: Here's Carol.

COSTELLO: You're trashing Star Jones, she's going to come after you. She's a tough woman.

Today's top stories straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, including more shocking testimony in the Michael Jackson trial. This time it comes from the accuser's sister. That's coming up just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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Aired March 4, 2005 - 07:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's 7:30 here in New York on a Friday morning. I'm Bill Hemmer.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad this morning. Good morning.

HEMMER: Nice to have you along with us today. In a moment here, Martha Stewart has been out of jail for seven hours, and her business empire is already set a new launch for some very big plans. We'll check into that. Allan Chernoff is standing by in upstate New York. We'll get to him in a moment.

COSTELLO: She's only been out for seven hours?

HEMMER: Seven hours.

COSTELLO: It seems like she's been out for days now.

HEMMER: That's right.

COSTELLO: Also coming up, Steve Fossett and Sir Richard Branson will be with us just ahead. We'll ask about what went on during the record-setting trip around the world and what these adventurers plan to do next.

HEMMER: He has just so many world records, too, doesn't he?

COSTELLO: Three.

HEMMER: About a dozen.

COSTELLO: Oh, more than a dozen.

HEMMER: Yes, all kinds of stuff, kayaking and planes. You name it.

COSTELLO: We'll ask him what there is left to do.

HEMMER: We will. Here's Kelly Wallace with the headlines this morning also.

Good morning, Kelly, nice to have you, too.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Happy Friday to you. Happy Friday to all of you as well.

"Now in the News."

This just in to CNN, a large fire burning in Virginia. There are flames and lots of smoke. You're looking at these live pictures now. It is believed to be a home in Fairfax, Virginia. Fire crews on the scene there. Not clear if there are any injuries. We will keep an eye on this story and bring you more details as they come in.

President Bush's Social Security blitz is on. The president is taking his reform plans on the road today. His first stop is New Jersey. He later heads to Indiana. It's all part of a 60-day tour to sell his ideas on Social Security to the American people.

There is word today Syria may be preparing to pull out of Lebanon. According to reports, Syria's president, Bashar Assad, is expected to announce a partial withdrawal of his troops. That announcement could come during a speech tomorrow. Syria has been under intense international pressure to pull out troops since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lebanon blames Syria for that attack. Syrian officials deny the claim.

To California now and the Michael Jackson trial. The sister of Jackson's accuser is set to be back on the stand today. The 18-year- old told the court Jackson had the family flown to Miami before a controversial TV documentary about him aired, and urged the family not to watch it. The trial is set to resume at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. Lots of attention still on that trial.

HEMMER: Almost one week down.

WALLACE: Almost one week down.

HEMMER: Five months to go.

WALLACE: Exactly.

HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

HEMMER: After spending five months in a federal prison, Martha Stewart is back home in her suburban New York City estate at this hour. Walking side by side with her daughter, Alexis, Stewart, looking thin and stylish, waved to supporters before boarding for that plane flight home.

Upon her release, Martha posted this statement on her Web site. Stewart says -- quote: "The experience of the last five months in Alderson, West Virginia, has been life-altering and life-affirming. I can tell you now that I feel very fortunate to have had a family that nurtured me, the advantage of an excellent education and the opportunity to pursue the American dream."

Stewart arrived shortly after 2:00 a.m. today at her 153-acre compound in Westchester County, where she will serve the next five months under house arrest. And the fortunes of Martha Stewart's company have mirrored those of its founder. And now with Stewart out of jail, it's poised for a comeback as well.

Allan Chernoff has that story near Stewart's home in Bedford, New York, with more on the future of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Allan -- good morning there.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.

And it was actually 2:30 in the morning when Martha Stewart drove up the road and finally entered her home after five months in prison.

She still has five months of home detention, but she'll be permitted to go out for work. And you can be sure she'll be very active with her company, because it has some big plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice over): Martha Stewart's company is looking to expand where it has never ventured: into the freezer case with frozen foods, into home improvement, with cabinets, perhaps windows and doors.

GAEL TOWEY, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MARTHA STEWART OMNIMEDIA: I think home improvement is a wonderful direction for us, because we really -- Martha has renovated a lot of houses herself. So I think we'll see a lot of activity in this area.

CHERNOFF: The company that turned crafts and food into an art form is hoping for a big expansion, says chief executive Susan Lyne.

SUSAN LYNE, CEO, MARTHA STEWART OMNIMEDIA: I believe this is our biggest, single asset at this company is that brand and that brand equity. And we will build with it.

CHERNOFF: Until now, Martha Stewart has been calling attention to K-mart shoppers, where her line of everyday products is sold. With K-mart buying Sears, there should be new outlets for Stewart. The company's plans, though, are bigger: a homemaker's invasion of China.

But the first brand extension will use the TV archive for how-to videos. Also in the works: delivering content online. Easter basket tips, for example, downloaded to your computer or wireless device.

LYNE: We are doing a lot of thinking, a lot of developing, a lot of exploring of many different options in every area we work in.

CHERNOFF: Martha Stewart will have clout, but she's not returning as an executive of the company. Her most important role: persuade America to once again embrace the marketing of Martha Stewart.

She'll host a new version of "The Apprentice," though it won't generate revenue for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The company does plan to profit from its new daytime Martha Stewart lifestyle show, to premiere this fall.

The biggest challenge: the company desperately needs to revive its trademark magazine, "Martha Stewart Living." Since 2002, when Stewart's legal problems were just beginning, circulation has dropped 20 percent, to an average of 1.9 million last year. Advertising has plummeted nearly 70 percent, down to $72 million last year. Ad executives predict a rebound. The question is, how high?

DAVID LAMB, JWT, CHIEF STRATEGIC OFFICER: In the short term, any contact with Martha Stewart has to be examined as an opportunity. The more worrying thing is whether that opportunity disappears after a very short time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Five months in prison has done much to rehabilitate Martha Stewart's image, and it certainly is giving the company a jump start. But a full rehab of the company's financials could take far longer -- Bill.

HEMMER: Allan, thanks for that.

Later tonight, a special edition of "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" here on CNN, featuring Martha's makeover. Tune in for that at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 on the West Coast -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, Bill, now to the adventurers. First by balloon, now by plane. Steve Fossett is once again around-the-world record- holder. Fossett became the first pilot to fly solo around the world on one tank of fuel. There were some touch-and-go moments, but he did land safely in Salina, Kansas.

Fossett joins us this morning to talk about what it was like piloting the experimental jet. Also with us, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and sponsor of this flight.

Welcome, gentlemen.

SIR RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN ATLANTIC: Thank you.

STEVE FOSSETT, GLOBAL FLYER PILOT: It's good to be here.

COSTELLO: Steve, you looked so wobbly when you got out of the plane. Are you OK this morning?

FOSSETT: I had a bit of sea legs effect coming out. But I got five hours of sleep last night and feeling good.

COSTELLO: Oh, great. I was going to ask Sir Richard, I mean, was there a party last night? Or did Steve have to go to bed?

BRANSON: There was a party. And, of course, Steve made it to the party. And he's a pretty remarkable, a pretty resilient, a pretty incredible person. And as he said, over the last night, he's only had now five hours of sleep, and that was last night. So he looks pretty darn good in it. COSTELLO: And it's good you gave him a shower, too, because I know he said he really wanted one yesterday. All right, I want to get...

BRANSON: Yes, he needed a shower, actually. I welcomed him out of the cockpit.

COSTELLO: OK, I'm going to get the controversial stuff out of the way right now. You know what people are saying about this fuel leak, that nobody was much paying attention to this flight because, you know, Martha Stewart was much in the news. And they thought this fuel leak was perhaps exaggerated somewhat to generate more interest in this flight. Can you address that, Steve?

FOSSETT: Well, I don't know. It was a serious problem to me. I mean, this was all about having enough fuel to fly around the world. And to come up short 2,000 pounds of fuel, I just didn't know how I would make it to the finish. But we worked on it, and I flew very fuel-efficiently. And somehow or another, I managed to make it all the way back.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, Sir Richard, how many Web hits -- people were going on the Web, like, what, 75 million hits right after this word of this fuel leak leaked out. That's incredible. That did generate a lot of interest.

BRANSON: There was -- and I think in the two days, there were 200 million people went onto the Web, which the "Guinness Book of Records," people say, is actually a record for any event, which is pretty remarkable that, you know, so many people around the world just wanted to participate in what was a really historic, wonderful flight.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about making records, Steve, because you've made many. What, 60? You've set 60 records? Is that accurate?

FOSSETT: Oh, before this flight, I had broken 102 world records total.

COSTELLO: Why do you do that? I mean, where's the passion in it for you?

FOSSETT: Well, I got into it 12 years ago when I broke my first world record and was sailing around Ireland. And, you know, I got very fascinated with this, because it was doing something faster, farther or higher than anybody else has done it. And I thought, you know, that feels really good when you can do that.

COSTELLO: I know. But other than feeling really good, I mean, how does it -- I just -- I think it's amazing, but I just don't get it, because you sit there one day and you say, hey, I think I'm going to fly a plane around the world on one tank of gas.

FOSSETT: Well, but these -- you know, but then when I start thinking about these things, I think of very interesting things to do. And, you know, I never run out of good ideas. There are more good ideas in future. But I've really been able to...

COSTELLO: Like what?

FOSSETT: Oh, I can't tell you.

COSTELLO: Come on! Like what?

FOSSETT: But, you know, the more I get into this, the more good ideas that I have. And, you know, I mean, I'll still be doing this, you know, five years from now, 10. You know, 30 years from now maybe I'll still have some good ideas to pursue.

COSTELLO: We hope so.

BRANSON: Space travel is something which we're -- in two and a half years' time, we're going to start sending people into space. And that we're building some spacecraft. So, since a lot of the records on Earth have been conquered, and space perhaps is the next big frontier.

COSTELLO: The next frontier. Sir Richard Branson and Steve Fossett, thank you for joining AMERICAN MORNING this morning.

BRANSON: Thank you.

HEMMER: It's 20 minutes now before the hour, Carol. Back to Chad, looking outside toward the weekend on this Friday.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: He used to be on top of the business world. But thanks to one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history, his fate now rests in the hands of jurors. Andy is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

HEMMER: Also, Halle Berry and Oprah Winfrey are teaming up for a TV project this Sunday night. Does the dream team deliver the goods? A good question for our "90-Second Pop" team this morning. That's still to come this hour in a moment here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's time to check in with Jack and the "Question of the Day."

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, ma'am.

Twenty-three thousand miles, 67 hours, Steve Fossett in the world record books for a solo trip around the globe without refueling. The plane landed in Salina, Kansas, yesterday.

The question we're monkeying with on this Friday is: What world record would you like to break? Some of the answers are as follows:

David in New Brunswick: "The record I'd like to see broken is maybe see someone make the largest cash donation toward the world's needy, rather than waste it on balloon trips around the world."

Rex in Toronto: "Jack, I'd like to break the world record for most e-mails read by Jack Cafferty on AMERICAN MORNING. I figure it's between me, Dave in Japan and Reg in Thunder Bay."

You probably got it.

Amy in Cleveland Heights, Ohio: "Breaking the very latest world record, longest use of cheapest piece of Salvation Army furniture. The CNN AMERICAN MORNING couch."

We have been complaining about this furniture for three years since we moved into this studio. We have new boss now. He's this new executive producer. Her name is Kim Bondie (ph). And she apparently got in a lot of trouble in Atlanta. So she was sent up here to ride herd on this thing. And maybe during what they call the honeymoon period, she could, you know, talk to the powers that be out of 500 bucks so we could go to Ikea and get some furniture.

Work on that will you, Kim?

Robert writes from Washington: "I'd like to break the record Martha Stewart just broke: making money while sitting in jail per month."

I mean, she made hundreds of millions of dollars, I think, sitting down there.

And finally, Tim in Minnesota writes: "I'm already sick to death of the Martha Stewart coverage. Maybe the real story should be headlined: media serves as lapdog for wealthy ex-convict. Give us all a break."

Oh, "IN THE MONEY," could be the next governor of Texas. I hope he is. We're talking about Kinky Friedman, who is a singer, a comic, country gentleman. He used to front Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys. He's going to be our guest on "IN THE MONEY."

We'll talk to him about his campaign to quote -- "stop the wussification (ph) of Texas." He says Texas is the last stand between the complete collapse of this country due to political correctness and the values of the Old West. Tomorrow at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00 on "IN THE MONEY." His campaign slogan? "How tough could it be?"

HEMMER: Tell us. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

HEMMER: Andy is back now. A big jobs report later out this morning. Good morning to you. What do you expect for that and also looking back to the markets from yesterday?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, we'll talk about the markets first of all. We'll get to that number in a second.

A mixed picture yesterday on Wall Street. You can see the Dow is up nicely here. Tech stocks didn't fare as well. Wal-Mart up nearly 2 percent. I told you about the retailers having a pretty good February. Boeing up 4 percent yesterday. Now that stock is back up to pre-9/11 levels. If you bought that at the low, you would have made a lot of money.

Jobs report coming out for the month of February, 8:30 Eastern. Looking at an addition of 225,000 jobs. That's hopeful, because if you get more than that 200,000 number that's a lot. Unemployment rate is supposed to hold at 5.2. The last time we cracked 200,000 was May. And we've missed seven out of the last eight months. So optimism is still reigning. We will have to see.

The WorldCom trial. Bernie Ebbers, yesterday, his lawyer, Reid Weingarten (ph), sort of busting on the government's witness, Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer. Some name-calling. I don't there's -- there was some name-calling yesterday. He called him a "snitch." He called Scott Sullivan a snitch.

COSTELLO: Oh, my god!

SERWER: And then he also said, jurors, this man is like an actor who plays Hamlet on Broadway. The last time Hamlet was on Broadway was 1995. Ray Fines (ph) by the way. It goes to the jury today.

And as far as handicapping this one, I don't think anyone really knows. It's just Sullivan versus Ebbers. Who do you believe?

HEMMER: Yes.

SERWER: Eleven billion dollars fraud.

CAFFERTY: Except that $11 billion disappeared and Ebbers was running the company during the time it disappeared.

SERWER: Well, there is that little detail, isn't there, Jack? Thank you for bringing that up.

CAFFERTY: Except for that, yes.

SERWER: Yes, you're right.

HEMMER: Thank you, guys.

The softer side of Martha Stewart in a moment here. From prison time, does it do her right? 90-second poppers dissect that fresh new look from midnight last night. That's next after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Name that tune. Come on.

TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: What was that? I failed.

HEMMER: "90-Second Pop" on a Friday. Say hello to Toure. We call it pop. He calls it pop. The prince of urban populism is back. Jessi Klein, comedian from VH-1's "Best Week Ever." Good morning, Jess. Welcome back.

JESSI KLEIN, COMEDIAN: Hi. Good morning. Thank you.

HEMMER: And B.J. Sigmund from "Us Weekly" back from the Oscars in L.A.

Good morning.

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good to see you.

HEMMER: The Martha machine rolls on. Carol says she's bringing back the poncho, by the way.

SIGESMUND: Absolutely. Well, let's talk...

HEMMER: A classy act last night?

SIGESMUND: Completely classy. This was 12:30 a.m. We've got to see the video. This was a history-making walk by Martha Stewart, absolutely. You've got to see when they run the video, the jeans, that knit poncho, ever so fashionable. Look at those high heels.

This is a 63-year-old woman, a complete 180 from the frumpy Martha Stewart that we got to know in the '90s. Look at that little hair flip. This was like an Oscar walk that I just saw on Sunday night.

But you know what? Martha has always been amazing at manipulating her own image. She made sure that she had execs from Martha Stewart Omnimedia there to make sure that this image went around the world. And it was amazing. Fashion history and personality.

HEMMER: How many people go to prison and come back a billionaire?

TOURE: Well, she...

HEMMER: That's what her net worth is back again.

TOURE: But not just that. Like, she's so hip-hop, right? Like, you do your time with pride, chin up, no problem, and you get moral authority and, like, integrity out of it.

KLEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), she's got a sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) now.

TOURE: She's got (UNINTELLIGIBLE) now.

KLEIN: Well, you know, I was talking to Wendy in the makeup room, and we were watching the footage. And she goes, I want to go to prison, like, if I can come out looking that good. Let's all go.

HEMMER: You know, we're kind of happy with Wendy around here. We really don't want to kiss her off to West Virginia. How much of this is overkill?

TOURE: Today is the day. I mean...

HEMMER: Come on!

TOURE: We can't get enough.

SIGESMUND: We've been talking about this day forever.

TOURE: We can't get enough.

SIGESMUND: This kicks off in earnest the comeback that we've been speaking about for two months now.

TOURE: Yes.

SIGESMUND: And now comes the TV shows.

TOURE: Yes.

SIGESMUND: And her stock will rise more.

TOURE: We thought she was over when she went to jail.

SIGESMUND: She's a fashion icon.

HEMMER: Right.

TOURE: So not over.

HEMMER: Listen, let's move to the next topic. Martha Stewart said before she went to jail, she said the spring garden is just around the corner. It's time to get things growing again.

KLEIN: Oh, Hallmark.

HEMMER: Sunday night, ABC, Halle Berry and Oprah Winfrey team up. The movie is called "Their Eyes Were Watching God," based on a novel.

TOURE: The novel.

HEMMER: How good is it?

TOURE: The great novel. I watched it last night. It's pretty darn good. Janie Crawford, the star of "Their Eyes Were Watching God," is the original "Desperate Housewife." She has, like, three different husbands, and she kisses another guy. Halle has this great sexy kiss with her new boyfriend.

HEMMER: Which is getting all the publicity, by the way, before the movie comes out.

TOURE: I mean, this is good. It's interesting. She has -- three times, she says, I'm watching God, which I don't think Janie Crawford actually says in the book. So that's a little creepy. But overall, this is pretty good. They stayed pretty close. It's good.

KLEIN: The thing that I think is funny is that Oprah said one of the reasons she wanted to make this movie is so that more people would read the book. But one way to get me to not read a book is to make a movie of it, where Halle Berry is eating fruit out of someone's hand.

SIGESMUND: I will say that the sex that everyone is talking about I think is eclipsing the greater meaning of this book. I think Oprah had something else in mind nine years ago when she bought this book. It's an historical book.

HEMMER: But that kiss is going to drive some viewers to watch the show Sunday night.

TOURE: I just love the whole project.

HEMMER: Quickly.

TOURE: Because it's like the black woman, superhero summit. Oprah, Halle, Zora Neale Hurston. The great playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks, adapted it. So it's just like all of these superheroes coming together, able to leap powerful white men in a single bound. It's like yes.

HEMMER: Third topic. Look at this superhero. This is a...

TOURE: Superhero.

HEMMER: Do we have the picture?

KLEIN: Let's look at the picture.

HEMMER: Star Jones apparently is now the target of PETA.

KLEIN: Oh!

HEMMER: That is not Star Jones. That's a drag queen from here in New York.

TOURE: Artilla DeBarge (ph).

HEMMER: What's happening, Jess? What's the story?

KLEIN: It's so good. I have one word for you in terms of the resemblance between these two: uncanny. It is uncanny. The only difference, I would say, is that Star Jones is a little bit more flamboyant than the drag queen.

TOURE: This is from PETA.

KLEIN: The drag queen hasn't quite captured that.

TOURE: Right. This is from PETA. They're trying to make fun of her for wearing fur. PETA has a dream enemy in Star, because she looks ridiculous every day. So the easiest idea in the world to sell is that she looks ridiculous in fur. HEMMER: And we should...

TOURE: It's so easy. Ergo (ph), ergo (ph), you, regular consumer, look ridiculous in fur. But what Star really needs to do is she needs to get the other PWETA on her side, People Who Eat Tasty Animals. And that would...

SIGESMUND: But we haven't talked about the fact that Star Jones is -- her lawyers are demanding that PETA not go through with this advertising campaign. She says, you know, it's against the First Amendment to use someone's image in advertising. She seems to have no sense of humor at all. Anna Wintor (ph), the editor of "Vogue," famously has never bothered with PETA, even though they have trashed her in the past.

HEMMER: By the way, this is just a picture. The ad has not been produced just yet.

SIGESMUND: They just produced it yesterday.

HEMMER: And it's already getting some publicity.

SIGESMUND: Right.

TOURE: I don't even know...

HEMMER: Thanks...

TOURE: How did fur become cool again? How did it happen?

KLEIN: People want to do what Star Jones does. Not!

HEMMER: Pick up Jessi this weekend. Did I mention Martha Stewart's not in jail anymore?

KLEIN: She's out!

HEMMER: Thanks. See you guys. We'll see all three of you later.

KLEIN: Thanks.

HEMMER: Here's Carol.

COSTELLO: You're trashing Star Jones, she's going to come after you. She's a tough woman.

Today's top stories straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, including more shocking testimony in the Michael Jackson trial. This time it comes from the accuser's sister. That's coming up just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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