Time Warner

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Time Warner Inc.
Type Public (NYSE: TWX)
Founded Merger between Time Inc. and Warner Communications (1990);acquired TBS (1996); subsequently purchased by AOL (2001)
Headquarters New York City, New York, U.S.
Area served Worldwide
Key people Jeffrey L. Bewkes
(Chairman) & (CEO)
Industry Broadcasting, publishing, Internet, telecommunications
Products See list of assets owned by Time Warner.
Revenue ▲ US$ 46.482 Billion (2008)[1]
Operating income ▲ US$ 8.949 Billion (2008)
Net income ▲ US$ 4.386 Billion (2008)[1]
Total assets ▲ US$ 133.830 Billion (2008)
Total equity ▲ US$ 58.536 Billion (2008)
Employees 86,400 (2008)[2]
Website TimeWarner.com

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is the world's third largest media and entertainment conglomerate by market capitalization (behind News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company), headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. (TimeWarner.com Fact Sheet Page) Formerly three separate companies (and owns the assets of a fourth, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., acquired by a pre-AOL merger TW in 1996): Warner Communications, Inc. and Time Inc. before the Time-Warner merger in 1990 and America Online, Inc. before its purchase of Time Warner in 2001 has created the current Time Warner , with major operations in film, television, publishing, Internet service and telecommunications. Among its subsidiaries are AOL, New Line Cinema, Time Inc., HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, The CW Television Network, TheWB.com, Ubu Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Kids' WB, The CW4Kids, Cartoon Network, CNN, DC Comics, and Mohawk Productions.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1976

In 1972, Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and renamed itself Warner Communications Inc.

It was the parent company for Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Music Group during the 1970s and 1980s. It also owned DC Comics and Mad, as well as a majority stake in Garden State National Bank (an investment it was ultimately required to sell pursuant to requirements under the Bank Holding Company Act). Warner's initial divestiture efforts led by Garden State CEO Charles A. Agemian were blocked by Garden State board member William A. Conway in 1978; a revised transaction was later completed in 1980.

In 1976, Nolan Bushnell sold his Atari company to Warner Communications for an estimated $28–32 million. Warner made considerable profits (and later losses) with Atari, which it owned from 1976 to 1984. While part of Warner, Atari achieved its greatest success, selling millions of Atari 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time.

In 1975, Warner expanded under the guidance of CEO Steve Ross and formed a joint venture with American Express, named Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which held cable channels including MTV (launched 1981), Nickelodeon (launched 1979) and The Movie Channel. Warner bought out American Express's half in 1984, and sold the venture a year later to Viacom, which renamed it MTV Networks.

[edit] 1985

In 1980, Warner purchased The Franklin Mint for about $225 million. The combination was short lived: Warner sold The Franklin Mint in 1985 to American Protection Industries Inc. (API) for $167.5 million. However, Warner retained Franklin Mint’s Eastern Mountain Sports as well as The Franklin Mint Center, which it leased back to API.[3]

In February 1983, Warner expanded their interests to baseball. Under the direction of Ceasar P. Kimmel, executive vice president, bought 48 percent of the Pittsburgh Pirates for $10 million. The company then put up its share for sale in November 1984 following losses of $6 million. The team's elderly majority owner, John W. Galbreath, soon followed suit after learning of Warner's actions.[4]

Turner Broadcasting logo

In 1984, due to the video game crash of 1983, Warner sold the consumer division of Atari to Jack Tramiel. It kept the arcade division and renamed it Atari Games. They sold Atari Games to Namco in 1985, and repurchased it in 1994, renaming it Time-Warner Interactive, until it was sold to Midway Games in 1996. In a long-expected deal, Warner Communications announced on May 11, 1988 they were acquiring Lorimar-Telepictures; the acquisition was finalized on January 12, 1989. The merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications was announced on March 4, 1989. During the summer of that same year, Paramount Communications launched a $12.2 billion hostile bid to acquire Time, Inc. in an attempt to end a stock-swap merger deal between Time and Warner Communications. This caused Time to raise its bid for Warner to $14.9 Billion in cash and stock. Paramount responded by filing a lawsuit in a Delaware court to block the Time/Warner merger. The court ruled twice in favor of Time, forcing Paramount to drop both the Time acquisition and the lawsuit, and allowing the formation of Time Warner which was completed on January 10, 1990.

[edit] 1991

In early 1991, the combined companies were named Time Warner. This company subsequently acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System in October 1996. Not only did this result in the company (in a way) re-entering the basic cable television industry (in regards to nationally available channels), but Warner Bros. also regained the rights to their pre-1950[5][6] film library, which by then had been owned by Turner (the films are still technically held by Turner, but WB is responsible for sales and distribution).

Time Warner had also been owner of the Six Flags Theme Parks chain during the 1990s after near bankruptcy. It sold all Six Flags parks and properties to Oklahoma based Premier Parks on April 1, 1998.

[edit] 2000

In 2000, a new company called AOL Time Warner, with Steve Case as chairman, was created when AOL purchased Time Warner for US$164bn.[7] The deal, announced on 10 January 2000[8] and officially filed on 11 February 2000,[9] employed a merger structure in which each original company merged into a newly created entity. The Federal Trade Commission cleared the deal on December 14, 2000,[10] and gave final approval on January 11, 2001;[citation needed] the company completed the merger later that day.[11] The deal was approved on the same day by the Federal Communications Commission,[9] and had already been cleared the European Commission on 11 October 2000.[12] The shareholders of AOL owned 55% of the new company while Time Warner shareholders owned only 45%,[8] meaning that the smaller AOL had in fact bought out the far larger Time Warner.

After the merger, the profitability of the ISP division (America Online) decreased.[citation needed] Meanwhile, the market valuation of similar independent internet companies drastically fell. As a result, the value of the America Online division dropped significantly. This forced a goodwill write-off, causing AOL Time Warner to report a loss of $99 billion in 2002 — at the time, the largest loss ever reported by a company. In 2003, the company dropped the "AOL" from its name, and removed Steve Case as executive chairman in favor of Richard Parsons, with AOL remaining a part of the company. That same year, Time Warner spun off Time-Life's ownership under the legal name Direct Holdings Americas, Inc. Case resigned from the Time Warner board on October 31, 2005.[13]

In 2005, Time Warner was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[14][15][16] On December 27, 2007 newly installed Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes discussed possible plans to spin-off Time Warner Cable and sell-off AOL and Time Inc. This would leave a smaller company made up of Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros and HBO.[17] On February 28, 2008 co-chairmen and co-CEOs of New Line Cinema Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne announced their resignations from the 40-year-old movie studio in response to Jeffrey Bewkes's demand for cost-cutting measures at the studio, which he intended to dissolve into Warner Bros.

[edit] Transactions made since the AOL-Time Warner merger

 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

Since the merger, a number of transactions have taken place:

[edit] The CW Television Network

See also: The CW Television Network

On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner announced that they were to create a new broadcast network, The CW Television Network. The network officially debuted on September 18, 2006. The network formally debuted on September 20 with the 2 hour premiere of America's Next Top Model.

The network is the result of a merger of The WB Television Network (a Time Warner holding) and UPN (a CBS Corporation holding). CBS Corporation and Time Warner each own 50% of the network. Tribune Broadcasting (previously owned a 25% stake on The WB) and CBS Corporation contributed its stations as new network affiliates, although Time Warner's sole owned TV station (via Turner) Atlanta's WTBS (now WPCH) remains an independent station, competing against CBS-owned CW O&O WUPA.

[edit] Time Inc.

The Time Inc. division publishes approximately 150 titles worldwide. It is the leading magazine publisher in the U.S. and UK, and is understood to be profitable at US$5 billion in annual revenues.[20] As of January 2007, the unit is experiencing downsizing.[21] In January 2007, the Bonnier Magazine Group agreed to acquire 18 magazines that Time Inc. was divesting. The magazines in the package employed 550 people and included Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Ski, Yachting, and TransWorld Snowboarding, as well as 11 other titles that were part of Time Inc.'s Time4Media Group. Also included were Parenting, and Baby Talk, which were part of the Parenting Group.[22]

[edit] Financials

In 2004, Time Warner's market capitalization was $84 billion. 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 [23] 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.

On 4 February 2009, Time Warner posted a $16.03 billion loss for the final quarter of 2008, compared with a $1.03 billion profit for the same three months of 2007. [24]

[edit] Commercial properties

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 (230 m), 55-floor mixed-use property was renamed Time Warner Center when the company itself was renamed.

[edit] Board of directors

As of July 31, 2008.

[edit] Senior Executives

[edit] Time Warner Inc.

Jeff Bewkes, Chairman,President and CEO of Time Warner Inc.

[edit] Subsidiaries

[edit] Competition

 This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (March 2008)

Time Warner faces industry competition from traditional media companies such as CBS Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, and Viacom, as well as online search portals such as Yahoo!, and Google for competition of viewer attention which translates to ad sales. According to the recent 10Q, in order to remain competitive, Time Warner and AOL must keep pace with rapid technological changes on the internet. Time Warner's business may be severely impacted by the increasing "piracy" of feature films, television programming and other content which decreases company revenues.[25]

AOL's subscriber base is declining, and declines are expected to continue, adversely affecting subscription and advertising revenue. As more individuals are using non-PC devices to access the Internet, AOL is under pressure to secure placement of its services and applications on mobile devices.

Box office receipts and the growth rate of DVD sales have recently been declining, which adversely affects Warner Brothers' growth prospects and revenues.[26]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b 2008 Annual Report to Stockholders
  2. ^ "Company Profile for Time Warner Inc (TWX)". http://zenobank.com/index.php?symbol=TWX&page=quotesearch. Retrieved on 2008-09-30. 
  3. ^ Dinger, Ed (1998). "The Franklin Mint". International Directory of Company Histories. 69. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_1998/ai_n19122709. Retrieved on 2008-05-23. 
  4. ^ Galbreaths to Sell Pirates PITTSBURGH, New York Times
  5. ^ You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), p. 255.
  6. ^ WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.
  7. ^ "Top Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Deals". 2007-03-28. http://www.manda-institute.org/en/statistics-top-m&a-deals-transactions.htm. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. [dead link]
  8. ^ a b "America Online and Time Warner Will Merge to Create World's First Internet-Age Media and Communications Company". Time Warner corporate homepage. 2000-01-10. http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,667602,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-06. 
  9. ^ a b Federal Communications Commission (2003-03-25). "America Online-Time Warner Merger Page". Federal Communications Commission homepage. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/aoltw/aoltw.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-06. 
  10. ^ Federal Trade Commission (2000-12-14). "FTC Approves AOL/Time Warner Merger with Conditions". Federal Trade Commission website. http://ftc.gov/opa/2000/12/aol.shtm. Retrieved on 2007-05-06. 
  11. ^ Patrick Ross, Evan Hansen (2001-01-11). "AOL, Time Warner complete merger with FCC blessing". CNET News.com. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-250781.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-06. 
  12. ^ "EU statement: AOL, Time Warner". BBC News Online. 2000-10-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/967049.stm. Retrieved on 2007-05-06. 
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ Drinkard, Jim (2005-01-17). "Donors get good seats, great access this week". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-16-inauguration-donors_x.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-25. 
  15. ^ "Financing the inauguration". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-16-inaugural-donors_x.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-25. 
  16. ^ "Some question inaugural's multi-million price tag". USA Today. 2005-01-14. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-14-price_x.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-25. 
  17. ^ Bloomberg.com: Time Warner May End Reign as Largest Media Company
  18. ^ Ali, Rafat. "Time Inc. Strange Buy: Acquiring Reader's Digest School Funding Raising Unit QSP For $110 Million". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080702430.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-03. 
  19. ^ "Time Warner completes cable spin-off". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D96TSJHG0.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-14. 
  20. ^ NYPost
  21. ^ "As Time Inc. Cuts Jobs, One Writer on Britney May Have to Do", New York Times, January 15, 2007. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  22. ^ NY Post
  23. ^ TWX annual statement
  24. ^ Time Warner reports huge loss[2]
  25. ^ Time Warner profile
  26. ^ Recent 10Q Report

[edit] References

  • Triangle Business Journal: Time Warner Cable thinking green with local HQ

[edit] Past names

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Principal Owners of the Atlanta Braves Franchise
Boston Red Stockings/Red Caps/Beaneaters/Doves/
Rustlers/Bees/Braves (1871-1952)
Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965)
Atlanta Braves (1966-present)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner"
Personal tools