Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009
Time Warner Spins Off Cable and AOL
Yeah, yeah, we work there. (Time Inc., the publisher of TIME, is a Time Warner subsidiary.) And it was certainly too early to declare new CEO Jeff Bewkes' slimming-down strategy a success. But if the 2001 AOL–Time Warner merger was perhaps the worst business deal ever, then spinning off AOL — as Time Warner did in December — had to be worth something. Plus, by ditching AOL and Time Warner Cable, Bewkes created a more focused, less indebted company that might stand a chance of maneuvering its way through the media's time of epic upheaval. Not sure if we ink- (and pixel-) stained wretches will be around to enjoy the ride, of course. But there was a logic to the strategy.