Word: warners
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Levin's relationship with Captain Outrageous has improved since 1985. At that time, Turner's grab for the MGM film library left him desperately short of cash. To the rescue rode Malone's TCI and Time Inc. (which later merged with Warner to form the current company). The stakes Turner gave them in return for the bailout, however--18% for Time Warner and 21% for TCI--left him beholden to the companies and unable to make major moves without their consent. When Levin vetoed a Turner plan to acquire NBC last year, Turner publicly complained that Time Warner's treatment...
...shareholder who expresses little worry is Malone; he insists the benefits of the merger could push the price of Time Warner to $80 a share. He claims to be patient about that, though skeptics think he could become restless and demanding if the trend does not materialize. Turner last week was entertaining no such second thoughts. "Now I'm Ted Time Warner," he declared. "Hey, let's get the cash flow up, the stock price up, and live together happily ever after." Wall Street, however, will have the final word...
...what Allen was up to--would have made the announcement sensational enough. But the timing and reasoning were more surprising still. The breakup runs squarely counter to the most publicized trend in American business: the move toward bigger and bigger mergers, like the one agreed on by Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting two days later...
...Broadcasting gave him potential veto power over last week's big merger--has been variously described as Darth Vader, Andrew Carnegie and Genghis Khan. Such comparisons, says Malone, have him all wrong. He's shocked, shocked by reports that he held up the merger--first by insisting that Time Warner do away with its "poison pill" takeover defense, then by demanding seats on the board--until he had squeezed all the juice he could from the deal. "The speculation is laughable," he says. Malone still came up with a great package: He'll swap tbs stock for Time Warner stock...
...doesn't want to be in there running anything. Jerry is king. We're giving him the power to be a really strong CEO." Because Malone controls a huge cable system, FCC rules bar him from controlling more than 5% of the voting stock of another system--Time Warner's. (The rule has been struck down in one court, but Malone is abiding by it anyway). In a move some analysts consider the most dramatic part of the deal, he gave control of his shares to Levin. Malone says this will help Levin enforce his will over the fractious Time...