On his ascent to the No. 3 position in the world's largest media company, Robert W. Pittman earned the nickname "Bob Pitchman," the best marketer of his time.
On Thursday, Pittman stepped down as chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner in a shake-up at the world's largest media company, which has seen its stock dragged down by its flagging America Online division.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The announcement came after weeks of speculation that Pittman had been unhappy with pressures from senior management. Pittman had been dispatched in April to rescue the AOL division, which has had a steep drop in advertising revenue.
AOL Time Warner stock had fallen Thursday after The Washington Post published an article detailing what it called unconventional deals to boost revenue before and after the merger that created the company.
Pittman, a veteran of the AOL side of the company, had been widely associated with lofty promises for growth that were made to investors shortly after the merger of AOL and Time Warner was announced in 2000.
The company never fulfilled those promises, and angered investors by sticking to those targets long after most observers stopped believing them.
As part of the shake-up, two top executives from the Time Warner side of the company were elevated: HBO cable television chairman Jeff Bewkes will head up the company's entertainment and networks businesses, and Time Inc chairman Don Logan will lead a media and communications group.
Bewkes will lead an "entertainment and networks" group that will comprise HBO, New Line Cinema, Turner Networks -- which includes CNN -- the WB network, and the Warner Bros movie studios and Warner Music.
Logan, head of the company's highly successful magazine division, will lead a new group of media and communications businesses including America Online, Time Inc and Time Warner Cable.
Both executives will report directly to Dick Parsons, the chief executive.
Bewkes and Logan said they intend to preserve the autonomy of the company's operating divisions and sounded a more low-key tone on promising the kinds of cross-divisional synergies than Pittman had.
"What we would bring to the table would be a greater sense of urgency in looking for cross-divisional opportunities," Logan said.
The announcement of the shake-up came after the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where AOL Time Warner had fallen US$0.66, or 5 percent, to US$12.45 on concerns about its accounting methods. The stock has fallen about 60 percent this year, from around US$32.
The shake-up came the day of a regularly scheduled meeting of AOL Time Warner's board of directors and the same.
Thursday's Washington Post article said AOL used a number of unusual techniques to boost its revenue between July 2000 and March 2002. The story, which was based on a lengthy review of confidential documents from AOL, reported that the company converted legal disputes into advertising deals, shifted revenue from one division to another, and sold ads on behalf of eBay and booked them as its own revenue.
AOL spokesman John Buckley said that all the transactions discussed in the article were appropriate and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that AOL's auditors, Ernst & Young, had signed off on all the transactions.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source