The speculation over who fills Richard Parsons’ CEO job at Time Warner Inc. is over, as Jeffrey Bewkes has been named company chief, effective Jan. 1.
Now the guesswork begins over what Bewkes, currently Time Warner president, will do to improve performance at the media giant. Indications are that Bewkes will come out swinging.
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“We’ll be looking at anything that improves our strategic advantage,” Bewkes told analysts this week as Time Warner released third-quarter earnings. “That’ll be true for acquisitions and divestitures.”
Bewkes’ overall compensation package will be tied to the company’s stock performance, according to the New York Post. Time Warner’s third-quarter earnings met analysts’ expectations. Revenue for cable operations increased 25%, AOL revenue fell 38%, and movie-division revenue increased 33 percent with a big boost from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Time Warner’s fortunes fell after the 2001 merger with AOL, engineered by then Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin and AOL chief Steve Case.
AOL’s CEO is now Randy Falco, formerly president of NBC Universal Television Group. Falco has been in the top job for only a year and has gained a reputation for cutting costs. He chopped 2,000 workers off the AOL payroll just last month.
These are the kinds of aggressive moves that Bewkes will need to make to help Time Warner’s bottom line.
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