Time Warner To Spin Off AOL

Hugh Pickens writes "Time Warner is inching closer to untangling one of the worst mergers in American corporate history that began with the merger of Time Warner with America Online, a deal that has resulted in the evaporation of more than $100 billion of shareholder value. "Although the company's board of directors has not made any decision, the company currently anticipates that it would initiate a process to spin off one or more parts of the businesses of AOL to Time Warner's stockholders, in one or a series of transactions," Time Warner said in the filing. Tech industry analysts have speculated for years that Time Warner would spin off AOL; the two companies merged in 2001 with the idea that AOL's strengths as a new media company could benefit an old media company like Time Warner, and vice versa. But few synergies ever arose from the marriage and even AOL founder Steve Case, who is no longer with the company, has said that he believes the two companies should be separated."

Comments

Lost shareholder value for whom?

[indytx]

Ah, the joys of market bubbles. Seriously, this was primarily a Time Warner stumble. If I remember correctly, AOL was worth more than Time Warner at the time of the merger. Hence, "AOL Time Warner." In retrospect, that was ludicrous. It would have made as much sense for Time Warner to have changed it's name to "Time Warner.com" or something idiotic like that. It seemed that the most mundane business models, or no business models at all, were getting VC money because "it uses the internet." This, and the current recession, both serve to illustrate that business leaders often behave stupidly and are susceptible to hype.

Steve Case saved shareholder value for his AOL shareholders, the only people to whom he owed any duty. If, I don't know, Microsoft and GM were to merge, smart money would bet on Microsoft shareholders losing a LOT of money, but I would suspect GM's shareholders would be pretty happy with the deal. It all depends on how you define the loser.