Word: warners
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Like a gambler unwilling to cut his losses, Time Warner CEO Gerald M. Levin keeps doubling his bet. In 1989 Levin, then vice chairman, negotiated Time Inc.'s buyout of Warner Communications, an acquisition that enriched Warner's shareholders but not Time Inc.'s. Without making much of a dent in the $11 billion debt incurred by the deal, Levin kept rolling the dice. He sold pieces of the new company into complex partnerships that raised billions but tied up Time Warner's best assets, including Warner Bros. studios and HBO. And instead of paying down the mortgage, Levin went...
...with Time Warner's stock having been among the biggest dogs in media since Lassie, Levin has thrown the dice again--and this time rolled a Ted. As in Turner. Time Warner's merger with Turner Broadcasting, sealed last week, makes the company the biggest in media, with unconsolidated sales of $21 billion. Time Warner--with holdings in film and television (including Warner Bros., HBO and Cinemax), publishing (including TIME, Book of the Month Club and Little, Brown Publishers) and music (including the Atlantic and Elektra labels)--adds to its roster such gold-plated assets...
...with that comes the rambunctious Robert Edward Turner. The question bounding around the new company is, What does Ted want? He certainly wants an active role in management, as he made clear in forcing Levin to carve out a fourth operating division for him that includes Time Warner's HBO and Cinemax, besides CNN and the other former Turner Broadcast properties. His game plan might include lifting the company's stock price by selling off assets, cutting debt and pressing for lower costs. "Ted is magic," says fellow industry maven Glenn Jones, CEO of Jones Intercable. "He can do things...
...nearly seven years since Time Warner was formed, its stock has trailed the market badly, up 32% while the Standard & Poor's index has risen 100%. The merger may help. Time Warner rose 5.7% last week, to $41.75. Part of that may be due to Turner's advent, but it also reflects Levin's promise that he's ready to purge the company's onerous level of indebtedness...
...some very obvious ways, Jordan has told this story well (the film is keenly anticipated in Ireland, where it will enjoy a Jurassic Park-style wide release; the distributor, Warner Bros., is understandably more skittish about its reception in Britain). Jordan's reconstruction of revolutionary Dublin is visually impressive and historically persuasive. His take on Collins is, in its way, equally attractive, if somewhat less than fully dimensional. Collins is presented as revolutionary warriors generally are by their admirers: as a practical soldier, a man of rough humor, mostly inarticulate idealism and, perhaps, a certain unspoken regret about that "talent...