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MUMBAI:
Jeffrey Bewkes, the new CEO of Time Warner who will take position
next week, is likely to make major changes in the company.
Industry
observers say the first thing Bewkes will do is spin off the
firm's cable-television division and sell AOL Web and Time
magazine.
The
remaining company will consist of the film studios and cable-TV
networks which would resemble Viacom Inc., said Gamco Investors
Inc. fund manager Chris Marangi.
Viacom,
owner of Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks, trades for nine
times projected 2008 earnings before interest, taxes and non-cash
expenses while Time Warner, whose assets include Warner Bros.,
CNN and HBO, trades at seven, Marangi added.
Time
Warner's 23 per cent drop this year puts it among the 10 biggest
losers in the S&P 100 Index of large U.S. companies. It
fell 23 cents (1.4 per cent) to $16.67 at 4:03 p.m. in New
York Stock Exchange composite trading. New York-based Viacom,
up 6.3 per cent this year, fell $1.19 to $43.60, reported
Bloomberg.com
Time
Warner's president and operating chief since 2006, Bewkes
was the brain behind the strategy to offer AOL e-mail and
search services free to consumers in order to beef up advertising.
However,
the plan hasn't attracted enough ads to make up for subscriber
losses.
Time
Warner was formed in 2001 as a result of the $124 billion
buy-off of Time Warner by American Online.
While
it had ambitious plans to produce TV shows, publish magazines
and invent other media products, the ventures all fizzled
out. Bewkes
succeeds Richard D Parsons who, however, will continue to
remain chairman of the board.
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