WILL TIME WARNER RID ITSELF OF AOL?

Time Warner may be about ready to dump AOL after the Internet unit's failure to generate greater advertising revenue to offset the loss of subscription revenue that occurred when it was offered free to broadband users, two media analysts have suggested. Spencer Wang of Bear Stearns & Co. said in a research note to clients Monday that AOL was still worth about $20 billion and that a sale could act as a catalyst for the company's stock. "It may make sense for AOL to partner with [another] company sooner rather than later," Wang said. Last week, Aryeh Bourkoff of UBS Securities made a similar prediction. In January 2000, at the height of the dot.com bubble, AOL acquired Time Warner for $183 billion.

27/03/2007