The giant Time Warner implosion starts now with the move to split off its growing cable division and use the capital to buy back shares. While the cable business brought some stability to Time Warner’s bottom line, it’s an awkward asset for a content company to hold onto, especially if the content side of the business is thinking about divestitures. And so it begins.
The nation’s second-largest cable operator will be the first to go. CEO Jeff Bewkes said today that Time Warner would split off the remaining 84 percent of its cable division with details to be worked out later. Then we’ll look for a spin out or sale of the diminishing AOL access line business, which Time Warner plans to separate from the flailing Platform A advertising business.
The logical next step is a retreat from the publishing world with magazines such as Fortune, People and Time going on the block. What will be left are the movie businesses, including Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, and cable TV properties such as HBO and TBS. Those units brought in sales of $5.5 billion during the quarter but are under continued pressure from the Internet. Like an aging matron, Time Warner appears to be taking refuge in the arms of old Hollywood.
Time Warner to split off cable service
Time Warner is splitting off its cable services division, the company said Wednesday. Time Warner currently owns around 84 percent of Time Warner Cable. The media giant, which has been struggling of late, has been rumored to be discussing an AOL partnership with Yahoo. "A complete structural separation of Time ...
Time Warner (TWX): AOL's Ad Revenue In Line (Phew), But Still Lousy
AOL's ad revenue (TWX) was up 1% year over year--horrible, but, on the surface anyway, better than the cataclysmic -30% that was echoing around the Street a couple of weeks ago. That said, there is an important (and negative) revenue dynamic here that everyone should be aware of.AOL's third-party ad revenue (ad networks) grew, as did paid search. D... Silicon Alley Insider
NetworkingTime Warner Cable, which just endeared itself to New Yorkers with a whole mess of HD channels, is finally getting a full break from parent company and all-around media conglomerate Time Warner. This has been speculated about for years, and a portion of TWC was spun off into Bright House Networks in 2003, but the clean break should give... Engadget
Time Warner plans sell its stake in its cable division, the company said Wednesday during its quarterly earnings call. PC World: Latest Technology News
Time Warner, the world's biggest media company, reports a 36% decline in Q1 profits and says it will spin off the rest of its cable business. The owner of AOL and CNN nets 21 cents per share in the first three months of the year, down from 31 cents, on revenues that rose 2% to $11.42 billion. Wired Top Stories
...Time Warner’s AOL division posted financial results today, and while its revenue did not, as some investors worried, “fall off a cliff,” it’s clearly hanging on to one for dear life. Revenue at the AOL unit slid 23% to $1.1 billion, with much of that decline stemming from a steep 28% drop-off in dial-up subscribers. Ad-revenue [...] AllThingsDigital -- WSJ
...Time Warner (TWX) reported largely in-line Q1 earnings Wednesday, with increased revenue from cable networks and filmed entertainment offsetting a 23% drop at AOL. CEO Jeff Bewkes said the company has decided to spin off its cable unit, but gave no indication of timing other than "we expect to finalize a deal soon." On AOL, Bewkes said the 18% d... Silicon Alley Insider
...Bewkes said Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable's fate would be determined by today and, sure enough, the announcement that TWC would be spun off completely came this morning. Bewkes kicked off the 1Q call by noting that the promise was kept and telling analysts and investors that TWX and TWC are close to an agreement on how the spin-off will be handl... paidContent.org
...Time Warner today announced that during the first quarter, AOL’s overall advertising revenues grew just 1 percent. Total revenues at AOL slid 23 percent because the access business continues to go away, but everybody knows that and the focus now is on whether AOL can reinvent itself as a pure Internet advertising company. AOL spent about $1 b... TechCrunch
APR 26, 2008
Brand: AOL==Lost in Space
Ed: Dial-up access, cable access, portal content, social network, or advertising network? AOL was number 1 with dial-up. Since then, the AOL brand has mashed or mushed to obscurity.
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