Intellectual Property Law

TW's Bewkes: Not Trying to Rid Ourselves of Cable

By Cynthia Brumfield

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes spent a good deal of time discussing Time Warner Cable today during his talk at Bear Stearn's annual media conference. But he shed little light on the company's apparently disintegrating AOL business.

During Time Warner's Q4 07 earnings call earlier this year, Bewkes, who took over as CEO in January, said that the media giant might shed its 84% ownership stake in separately traded Time Warner Cable. During the Bear Stearns talk, Bewkes couched this ownership sell-off as best for Time Warner Cable. "It might do better if it were better able to live as a separate ownership position," he said. Let's hope that's the case, because the ailing cable company has lost almost one-third of its value since going public as a separate stock a little more than a year ago.

Still, Bewkes rejected the phrasing that Time Warner is trying to "get rid of" Time Warner Cable, which, despite the poor stock performance and tough competitive positioning, is still a major source of cash for the parent company. "We're not trying to get rid of or sell the cable company," Bewkes said. He then added a curious after-statement: "We just don't necessarily think you need to own it" to the degree Time Warner owns it.

Bewkes offered little fresh insight into AOL. He stressed that online advertising, a strength in the AOL basket of services, is going strong even if the portal, search and other online efforts are sagging.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on March 11, 2008 (boomark / email).