Time Warner’s hiring of Tim Armstrong to run AOL is, to misquote another Armstrong, a small step for AOL but a giant leap for Time Warner.
Whether or not the former Google executive can turn around the AOL business, his hiring clearly sets up AOL to be spun off. That is a step Time Warner must take, having wasted years trying to fix or find a buyer for AOL.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says he’ll have a decision on the future of AOL “soon”. That can’t come fast enough for AOL boss Randy Falco, who we’re told is now fuming about the limbo state his company has entered: “When is New York going to sell us?” we’re told he muttered in earshot of his lieutenants recently.
At a meeting with about a dozen senior members of AOL’s staff Monday, Jeff Bewkes left at least one member of management with the impression that the company is for sale, a source close to the company says. Another person who attended the same meeting says Jeff did not say specifically that the company is for sale but merely said that “everyone is talking to everyone” and that AOL might someday be sold.
One thing’s for certain: The collapse of the Yahoo-Microsoft deal could be the best thing to happen to Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes for a good long time.
Yahoo reportedly has a deal teed up to buy AOL for about $10 billion. We suspect that the newly dumped Microsoft may have something to say about that.
AOL wouldn’t give Microsoft what Yahoo would have, but it would help the company strengthen its Web-based communication business (AIM, AOL Mail, etc.). MapQuest could be a nice fit with Microsoft’s mapping products.
There was good news for Apple and Comcast, but bad news for Blockbuster woven into Time Warner’s conference call with investors today. Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief executive, said that the company’s Warner Brothers studio will now release movies for video-on-demand systems on the same day they are released as DVDs.
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