Perhaps invoking the spirit of Time Inc. co-founder Henry Luce was not precisely the tenor Time Warner’s new Chief Jeff Bewkes aimed to strike at a recent management meeting, according to a New York Times story about possible upcoming changes.
Rich in detail, but low on specifics (because there are none yet) the Times runs through a list of possible scenarios the world’s second biggest media company could take next year as it struggles to resuscitate its sluggish stock price.
Not a lot new, but a nice crib sheet for Time Warner investors. Three dates in Time Warner’s calendar could lead to pivotal events: Time Warner’s fourth quarter earnings call on Feb. 6; April 1, when the company can spin off more of its cable unit without incurring a hefty tax bill; and July 1, when Google can force a sale, registration or buyback of its 5 percent stake in AOL.
Then there’s the much speculated about possible deal to combine with GE’s NBC Universal, which GE has publicly denied so far.
In case you’re wondering, yes, Bewkes has heard it all before. About 10 times before any of us wrote anything.
(NYTimes)
Keep an eye on:
- We’re a little late to this, but worth taking a look at CNN Money writer Paul LaMonica’s Dec. 20 list of top foreign media companies whose growth far outpaces U.S. sector. (CNN Money)
- News Corp to sell 8 TV stations to Oak Hill for $1.1 billion. (Reuters) (Nov 14 coverage here)
- Sony Online Entertainment is not for sale. (Reuters)
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lets hope that their merger with NBC goes better then their Merger with CBS to form TheCW. CBS got the control over that network and gutted some of the best productions of any network. For years Warner Bros who has produced many of the top television shows and then farmed them out to other networks. At the time of their merger with CBS and the Takeover of theCW network by Dawn Ostroff (President of UPN) TheWB had their own child The Gilmore Girls kidnapped and beaten to death… Gilmore Girls was shot in the Center of the Historic Warner lot in Los Angeles in buildings that were home to The Waltons and on streets where the General Lee of Dukes of Hazard flew across our screens every week. Once CBS’s Appointed Hit Woman got control of the production she fired the 6 year “Writer, Director, Creator of the Show” and appointed an unstable previous Mental Hospital patent to alter the 6 year love story between the main characters of the show and set fire that devastated Hollywood far greater then the recent brush fires it has endured. I can only Imagine what NBC News would to CNN the best International minute by minute news source available. It would be devastating in so many ways not to mention the loss of the basic freedom that our free press protects. If there is to be a shakeup at Time Warner Lets hope its one that restores the many years of great News and Entertainment that is now playing second fiddle to their quest for squeezing the last bit of profit into their corporate management paychecks.
- Posted by chicken moo