

|
| Type | Public (NYSE: TWX) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Merger between AOL Inc. and Time Warner Inc. (2001) |
| Location | New York City, New York |
| Key people | Richard D. Parsons, Chairman/CEO Jeffrey L. Bewkes, President/COO |
| Industry | Broadcasting & Cable TV |
| Slogan | N/A |
| Products | See full product listing. |
| Revenue | |
| Operating income | {{{operating_income}}} |
| Net income | {{{net_income}}} |
| Employees | 84,900 |
| Website | www.timewarner.com |
| {{{footnotes}}} | |
Time Warner Inc. NYSE: TWX (AOL Time Warner Inc. between 2001 and 2003) (or referred to as TimeWarner) is the world's largest media company with major Internet, publishing, film, telecommunications and television divisions. The company is officially headquartered in New York City.
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Time Warner was created in 1990 by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications. This company subsequently acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System on October 1996.
In 2001, a new company called "AOL Time Warner" was created when AOL purchased Time Warner. The deal, announced in 2000, employed an unusual merger structure in which each original company merged into a newly created entity. The Federal Trade Commission approved the deal on January 11, 2001.
There has been some speculation about the motivations of each party. Some observers believed that Time Warner was struggling to integrate "new media" into its business. A merger with AOL provided a huge subscriber base of Internet users, along with online marketing know-how. Many business journalists have reported that AOL executives felt that AOL stock was severely overvalued and that a big merger was the only way to prevent a collapse in valuation.
The merger faced immediate opposition by consumer groups and other media companies on antitrust grounds.
Media companies felt that the vertically integrated AOL Time Warner would unfairly promote its own content within its outlets. This fear existed before the merger, but Time Warner was thought to be a conglomeration of very independent divisions. It was feared that this would change with the influence of AOL executives.
Consumer advocates were concerned with the threat of product tying between Time Warner's cable TV systems and AOL's Internet service. Some consumer groups saw a possible attempt to corner the Internet-over-TV market, whereby AOL could force all of the Time Warner cable subscribers to use AOL branded Internet-TV. Smaller internet service providers feared that AOL would tie its Internet service to Time Warner's cable modem service. Some ISPs wanted the opportunity to use Time Warner's cable network as a common carrier for their services, which competed with AOL. AOL and Time Warner pledged not to violate any antitrust regulations.
Many observers were shocked that a large, diversified media conglomerate was being acquired by a much smaller company. Market conditions at the time of the merger placed a greater premium on Internet-related stocks than on traditional media stocks. AOL's high market capitalization relative to that of Time Warner made the acquisition possible. The deal has since become a symbol of the Internet Bubble and is widely regarded as a disaster, with a $2.4 billion shareholder settlement, a further $600 million set aside and a $5 billion price boosting share buyback program announced on 3 August 2005.
AOL CEO Steve Case became executive chairman of the new company, while Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin retained the CEO title.
After the merger, the profitabilty of the ISP division (America Online) decreased. Meanwhile, the market valuation of similar independent internet companies fell dramatically. As a result, the value of the America Online division dropped significantly. This forced a goodwill write down, causing AOL Time Warner to report a loss of 99 billion dollars in 2002--at the time, the largest loss ever reported by a company.
In response to the huge loss in 2002, the company dropped the "AOL" from its name, and removed Steve Case as executive chairman. Richard Parsons became the new CEO. Case resigned from the Time Warner board on October 31, 2005.[1]
A number of transactions have since taken place:
Since 2003, the Time Warner text logo appears in CamelCase form (ala RadioShack).
Time Warner Cable has since expanded and offers the following services:
- High-Speed Internet - The service named Road Runner, recently upgraded its speed and now comes with the new AOL 9.0
- Cable - Time Warner Cable has provided a cable service.
- Digital Phone - This is a phone service that only cordless phones can be used with this (Note: Digital Phone service information is needed for this part of the article)
The following enterprises are part of Time Warner:
Time Warner also owns several other television channels and magazines, including CNN Headline News and Entertainment Weekly, as well as Timelife books and music. See external links below for a complete list.
In 2004, Time Warner's market capitalization was US$84 billion (2004). When the AOL-Time Warner merger was announced in January 2000, the combined market capitalization was $280 billion.
For fiscal year 2002 the company reported a $99 billion loss on its income statement ([2]) because of $100 billion in non-recurring charges, almost all from a writedown of the goodwill (intangible asset) from the merger in 2000. (The value of the AOL portion of the company had dropped sharply with the collapse of the Internet boom, in the early 2000s.)
Time Warner Inc. owns several large properties in New York City; certain buildings in the Rockefeller Center complex and adjacent office towers house its main offices; one of which houses a CNN news studio. In late 2003, Time Warner finished construction of a new twin-tower complex, designed to serve as additional office space, facing Columbus Circle on the southwestern edge of Central Park. Originally called the AOL Time Warner Center, the 755-foot, 55-floor mixed-use property was renamed Time Warner Center when the company itself was renamed.
As of November 2005.
Time Warner Inc.
Corporate Directors: Jim Barksdale | Steve Bollenbach | Frank Caufield | Robert Clark | Jessica Einhorn | Miles Gilburne | Carla Hills | Reuben Mark | Michael Miles |
Ken Novack | Richard Parsons | Ted Turner | Francis Vincent | Deborah Wright
America Online: AOL Instant Messenger | CompuServe | ICQ | MapQuest | Mirabilis | Netscape | Nullsoft | Singingfish | Weblogs, Inc. | Winamp
Time Inc.: Business 2.0 | Entertainment Weekly | Fortune | IPC Media Ltd. | Money | NME | People | Popular Science | Sports Illustrated | TIME magazine | Wallpaper*
Turner Broadcasting System: Atlanta Braves | Boomerang | Cartoon Network | Cartoon Network Studios | CNN | CNN Airport Network | CNN en Español | CNN Headline News |
CNN International | CNN Pipeline | CNN.com | Court TV | TBS | TNT | TNT Latin America | Turner Classic Movies | Turner South | WTBS
Warner Bros. Entertainment: | Dark Castle Entertainment | DC Comics | Warner Bros. Television | The WB | Turner Entertainment | Castle Rock Entertainment
Misc. assets: Capital News 9 | Cinemax | HBO | New Line Cinema | News 10 Now | NY1 | Road Runner | Time Warner Book Group | Time Warner Cable
Annual Revenue: $42.1 billion USD (
11% FY 2004) | Employees: 84,900 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: TWX | Website: www.timewarner.com