Icahn Sees 4-Way Time Warner Split

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Matthew Karnitschnig matthew.karnitschnig@wsj.com]
A long-awaited analysis of Time Warner commissioned by dissident investor Carl Icahn concludes that breaking up the company and increasing its share-buyback program could boost its value by about $40 billion -- or nearly half of its current market worth. The report calls for Internet division America Online, as well as Time Warner's publishing and cable units, to be spun off into separate companies. It recommends the cable-network assets, which include CNN and Home Box Office, be folded together with Warner Bros., the Hollywood studio. It says such a division would result in leaner companies that could better react to rapidly changing markets. The report also estimates that shutting down Time Warner's corporate center would save hundreds of millions of dollars in overhead. The analysis didn't explain how breaking up the company would address the challenges facing traditional media from new digital technologies. Investor worries about those challenges have been cited as a major reason for a slump in the stock prices of media companies in the past few years.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113933381553467361.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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See also --

* Icahn, Lazard: Split TW in Four
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6305652.html?display=Breaking+News
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* Plan Would Split Media Giant Into 4
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-split08feb08,1,747720...
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