WarnerMedia
Time Warner Inc. is the world's largest media company with major Internet, publishing, film, music, telecommunications and television divisions.
The company is headquartered in New York City, New York.
History
Time Warner was created through the merger of Time Inc., and Warner Communications on January 10, 1990. In the late '90s, the group merged with Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, making Mr. Turner the largest individual shareholder of the group.
A controversial 2000 merger of Time Warner and America Online faced opposition in part due to concerns over monopoly issues (vertical integration). The collapse of the late 1990s tech industry economic bubble has greatly reduced the company's combined worth, and in 2002, the AOL component was considered to be the weakest part of the company. On September 17, 2003, AOL Time Warner announced that it would change its name to Time Warner, and its ticker symbol from AOL back to the original TWX used by Time Warner prior to the merger.
Following a series of poor results, a number of group assets have been recently closed or sold. The Professional wrestling federation WCW was sold to competitor WWE. The Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, and operating rights to Philips Arena were sold in mid-2003. Warner Music Group, a music company, was sold to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. in late 2003.
Businesses
The following enterprises are part of Time Warner:
- CNN, a cable news channel
- HBO, Cinemax, Turner Classic Movies, cable movie channels
- TBS Superstation, TNT, Cartoon Network, cable channels
- The WB televison network (co-owned with Tribune Company)
- America Online and via its Web Properties Group:
- CompuServe (Classic, 2000 and Basic), an Internet service provider
- Mirabilis, makers of the ICQ instant messaging program
- Mapquest, a WWW map and direction site
- Netscape, a web portal and browser vendor, formerly leader of the Mozilla project
- Nullsoft, a software development group best known for Winamp.
- Time Warner Cable, a cable television company
- Time Magazine, a weekly news magazine
- People Magazine, a weekly celebrity magazine
- Sports Illustrated, a sports magazine
- MAD magazine, a humor magazine
- Fortune, Money Magazine, business and investing magazines
- Warner Bros., a movie studio
- New Line Cinema, a movie studio
- Atlanta Braves, a baseball team
- DC Comics, a comic book company
Time Warner also owns several other television channels and magazines, including CNN Headline News and Entertainment Weekly, as well as Time Life books and music. See external links below for a complete list.
See also: List of assets owned by Time Warner, Ted Turner, Steve Case.
Financial information
Time Warner is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol TWX. Its market capitalization is US $49 billion and as of mid-February 2003 it was traded at about US $11.07. When the AOL-Time Warner merger was announced in January 2000, the combined market capitalization was US $280 billion.
At the end of 2002, Time Warner announced that it had a yearly financial loss of nearly US $100 billion dollars.
Commercial Properties
Time Warner Inc owns several large properties in New York City; certain buildings in the Rockefeller Center complex and adjacent office towers house its main offices; one of which houses a CNN news studio. In 2001 Time Warner began building a twin towers complex in the southwestern edge of Central Park facing Columbus Circle, designed to serve as additional office space. Originally called the AOL Time Warner Center, the 755-foot, 55-floor mixed-use complex was renamed Time Warner Center when the company itself was renamed. The twin towers were completed in late 2003.