AOL’s co-founder Case quits Time Warner
The curtain came down yesterday on what some consider to be one of the biggest corporate mistakes of recent times as Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, quit the board of Time Warner.
Case was instrumental in brokering a deal in 2000 that saw AOL merge with Time Warner creating the world’s largest media company in the process. Since then, shares in the monster media business, have plummeted and a string of top executives have left the company. Just two years after the merger, the company was forced to reveal the largest corporate loss in history at $98.7bn (£55.6bn) as AOL spectacularly blew a hole in profits.
Case, who stepped down as chairman in 2003, is leaving Time Warner to pursue deals with his new investment company Revolution. Revolution is a business that provides health care and wellness programming and services.
In a statement in New York, Dick Parsons, the chairman and CEO, said he had great respect for Case’s “long record of achievement”. Case said he hoped AOL, the internet company, could return to its past greatness. The future of the company he is leaving behind has been the subject of speculation. Some have suggested a stake in the company could be sold off.
Among those linked as interested parties are Microsoft, Google, Comcast and Yahoo. Last month Time Warner confirmed it anticipated full-year growth rate in 2005 to be in the high single digits. Time owns Warner Bros studio, CNN and Time Inc.