It's Official: Bewkes Replaces Parsons At Time Warner

As ALL ACCESS tipped last week, TIME WARNER has no officially confirmed that Chairman/CEO RICHARD PARSONS will resign of JAN. 1, 2008.Succeeding him will be current currently the Pres./COO JEFFREY BEWKES, of TIME WARNER. PARSONS will remain Chairman and BEWKS will remain President.

"JEFF is the right person to be the next CEO of TIME WARNER, and I couldn't be more delighted that he will lead this company into the future," PARSONS said in a statement. "JEFF is a well-respected business executive both inside and outside the company."

According to CNN.COM, PARSONS' tenure at TIME WARNER was a tumultuous one. He was responsible for selling off some of the group's underperforming divisions, including the WARNER MUSIC GROUP. At the same time, he stopped short of breaking up the conglomerate, revving up a share buyback plan it quell pressure from activist shareholder CARL ICAHN.

BEWKES may not share PARSON's vision when it comes to future spin-offs. "We consider Mr. PARSONS' (largely expected) resignation a positive for the stock because his successor JEFF BEWKES will likely be more aggressive at restructuring the company," Oppenheimer & Co. analyst THOMAS EAGAN wrote in a report. "We expect Mr. BEWKES will be less sentimental about selling or spinning off divisions, such as publishing, or reducing the current 84.5% stake in cable systems."

"I welcome this opportunity to work with my colleagues and the board to lead this company successfully into the future. We have a lot to do, and I'm intensely focused on building shareholder value," BEWKES said in the company's statement.

« see more Net News