Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

September 5, 2008 11:37:41 PM CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Time Warner Plans AOL Spin-Off

Posted Feb 6, 08 11:44 AM CST in Technology,  Business 

(Newser) – In an effort to revive the company's slumping stock, Time Warner's new CEO plans to break up AOL, keeping its growing online ad properties, but unloading its increasingly obsolete dial-up Internet service provider. Operating income at AOL fell 70% in the fourth quarter, as the company continued to lose Internet-access customers, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

CEO Jeff Bewkes also told investors today he will consider selling or spinning off fast-growing Time Warner Cable, and he sees room for cost cutting at the corporate level and at New Line Cinema. With today's announcements, Bewkes is aiming to give Wall Street the shakeup it has been asking for; the company's "miserable" stock performance, as one analyst put it to the Washington Post, baffles observers, given the value of Time Warner's entertainment properties.

Sources Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • As AOL Looks for Answers, Time Warner Hopes for Deal

    Mar 12, 08 1:08 PM CDT
    As AOL Looks for Answers, Time Warner Hopes for Deal AOL’s efforts at launching an Internet ad-sales business—dubbed Platform A—continue to stumble, the New York Times reports. Parent Time Warner Monday fired another exec and yesterday said it’s willing to combine AOL with another company to jump-start the moribund division it’s already spent $1 billion on. Ex-AOLers say the one-time Internet giant is self-destructing. More »

  • Time Warner Focus Turns to Possible Breakup

    Dec 28, 07 10:19 AM CST
    Time Warner Focus Turns to Possible Breakup What do you do when you take over the world’s biggest media company? If you’re new Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes, you probably sharpen some knives. Bewkes may soon spin off AOL as well as the conglomerate’s cable and magazine divisions, Bloomberg reports. “There’s nothing special necessarily about being the biggest,” argues one expert who manages 11.3 million Time Warner shares. More »

  • AOL to Buy Online Ad Outfit Quigo

    Nov 7, 07 4:15 PM CST
    AOL to Buy Online Ad Outfit Quigo AOL will purchase online advertiser Quigo, its final acquisition on a major restructuring agenda. The Time Warner unit has had poor ad growth recently—13% this past quarter, down from 40% percent levels—and is seen as trying to stay competitive with Google and Yahoo. The purchase, reportedly valued at around $340 million, is the latest in a “buying frenzy,” Reuters reports—on the heel of Microsoft’s $6 billion buy of aQuantive. More »

The Time Warner building is photographed Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, in New York. Weak results from AOL tempered an otherwise strong quarter at Time Warner Inc., the company reported Wednesday, as gains...   (Associated Press)
In this Friday, Oct. 5, 2007 photo, Jeffrey Bewkes, President and Chief Operating Officer, Time Warner attends the New Line Cinema 40th Anniversary Gala to benefit The Film Society of Lincoln Center in...   (Associated Press)
The Time Warner building is photographed Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, in New York. Weak results from AOL tempered an otherwise strong quarter at Time Warner Inc., the company reported Wednesday, as gains...   (Associated Press)
The Time Warner building is photographed Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, in New York. Weak results from AOL tempered an otherwise strong quarter at Time Warner Inc., the company reported Wednesday, as gains...   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (1 of 1)

Tags

Wall Street  • Time Warner  • AOL  • cable industry  • Time Warner Cable  • Jeffrey Bewkes


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular


Other Business Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »