If you're reading this blog, you already know that in a conference call to analysts Wednesday Time Warner Inc. CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said the company is looking to shed AOL LLC's Internet access unit. For a little perspective on the announcement, we turned to Adam Lehman, who, as we previously reported in
Corporate Dealmaker, spent much of the 1990s helping to build a fledgling AOL into an Internet titan. So what does Lehman, who split AOL soon after its merger with Time Warner and currently is a managing partner with Rock Ridge Ventures, think of this latest news?
"Obviously, the formal splitting of AOL's access business and content and advertising units has been long overdue. Unfortunately, the delay in making this move limits the options for Time Warner, or any buyer of the access unit, to re-position and revive it. But at least TW can yield some value for its shareholders by selling the access unit to someone with a more dedicated focus on making the most of its residual customer relationships and any remaining brand equity. And, more importantly, TW can more completely liberate AOL's advertising and content units, which should serve to attract capital (in a partial spinout) and management talent to the 'Platform A' [advertising] business, now free from the tarnish and drag of the wasting access unit -- or enable TW to make more of a pure-play sale of Platform A in the context of the current industry consolidation."
- Suzanne Stevens
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