Categories: Time Warner

Warner Brothers Contemplated, Walked from Buying MGM

Posted by: Ron Grover on October 09

The once fabled MGM studio is hanging by a thread. On Oct. 1, its banks agreed to allow the debt-hobbled studio to forego its monthly debt payments on $3.5 billion...

Netflix, Studios discuss a new DVD deal

Posted by: Ron Grover on September 30

Sometimes in Hollywood, misery loves company. And, while three film studios are locked in a legal tussle with video vending machine operator RedBox and its $1 rentals, another company that’s...

Big Time Warner Investor: Sell Magazines, Buy Entertainment

Posted by: Dan Beucke on September 25

By Ron Grover It’s only a matter of time before the media industry consolidation begins. But when it does, Time Warner likely will be out there buying, according to its...

20% Down Is The New Up: The First Quarter's Tally

Posted by: Jon Fine on May 05

I’ve made the point (over and over again) that the dynamics of this ad environment, especially on the print side, have deteriorated to the extent that the old saying--flat is...

AOL Has Bad Quarter; Leaves Tracks Elsewhere Hinting At Names Of Next Content Sites

Posted by: Jon Fine on April 29

Earnings reporting time for Time Warner. And, in a fashion familiar to those who watch Time Warner—a company where things get done with the alacrity of a sloth dashing through...

A Thought For Time Warner Regarding AOL: Keep The Access Business And Sell Everything Else

Posted by: Jon Fine on August 06

There is now a case to be made for Time Warner to hold onto AOL’s dial-up subscriber business and sell the troubled online unit’s advertising and content businesses. As they...

AOL: Now What? A Few Wisecracks And A Few Notions

Posted by: Jon Fine on June 27

AOL: A neverending pinata party for those who write about such things; a gremlin that never stops kicking your shinbones for those running Time Warner....

Time Warner And The Curse Of The Conglomerate

Posted by: Jon Fine on February 06

Three headlines coming out of Time Warner’s earnings call today, which happened to be the first run by new CEO Jeff Bewkes:...

Boiling Down Time Warner's Situation Into A Few Sentences

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 08

A. AOL ad growth underperforming Web ad growth = very bad. B. Every CEO needs a narrative for his company. Dick Parsons’ story was “I am going to calm this...

Chris Albrecht Out At HBO

Posted by: Jon Fine on May 10

In the end, what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas. HBO Chairman-CEO Chris Albrecht’s arrest there last weekend for allegedly assaulting a female companion led to his corporate ouster...

Media Math Of The Moment: Time Inc./Time4 Media Edition

Posted by: Jon Fine on January 26

Time Inc, purchase price for the Times Mirror (soon to be renamed Time4 Media) magazine group, December, 2000: $475 million Likely sale price* of entire Time4Media magazine group—not including This...

Steve Case Blames The Messenger

Posted by: Jon Fine on January 26

UPDATE 1 PM: Ah, comprehension. The below comment is, as a kind emailer points out, wrong, and entirely backward. In fact it was the Time Inc. writer who said the...

Jeff Bewkes Offers A Less-Than-Ringing-Endorsement of Time Inc. In Its Current Form

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 06

Earlier today at the UBS media conference, that is, both during and after a lunchtime presentation in which he was interviewed by UBS' Aryeh Bourkoff. "Not now." --Bewkes, after Bourkoff...

Five Seconds With Dick Parsons . . .

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 05

. . . after Parsons spoke at Credit Suisse First Boston's Media and Telecom Week conference, at Manhattan's Crowne Plaza Hotel, approximately 3:15 Eastern Time, 12/5/06: Fine On Media: Dick,...

Time Warner: Tomorrow's Conventional Wisdom Today!

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 02

Regarding Time Warner's surprisingly decent earnings report of yesterday, and Time Inc.'s what-took-them-so-long push into a more aggressive Web strategy: Old CW: AOL's walled garden approach allowed competitors to build...

Dick Parsons: The Nightfly

Posted by: Jon Fine on March 10

Last night Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons was interviewed by BusinessWeek's editor-in-chief Steve Adler at New York's 92nd Street Y. To be totally random about this: 1. What is it...

Today's Time Warner Metaphor

Posted by: Jon Fine on February 17

The reviews were lousy, so the show closed early. Also, everyone knows the colossus is flawed, and that it’s built upon a series of fabulously mistaken assumptions. But there’s a...

Department of Damning With Faint Praise

Posted by: Jon Fine on February 07

“Although Mr. Parsons did not have a media background and had never run a major company, he was well-liked.” --How the appointment of Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons is characterized...

Time Warner Won't Be Broken Up

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 29

Earlier this month ContextWeb hosted a dinner, at which the main attraction was Vanity Fair columnist Michael Wolff giving a spiel about media. Allow me to be the 4,679th person...

The Wisdom of the Market, part 452

Posted by: Jon Fine on December 09

A colleague of mine steps into the Time Warner presentation at yesterday’s Credit Suisse First Boston conference. This is a few minutes after Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons has just...

AOL and everyone

Posted by: Jon Fine on October 14

The crowning irony of all this would be if a deal with AOL that involves (pick at least one) Comcast, Google or Microsoft becomes the one move from a media...