CHICAGO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc will eventually sell the Time Inc magazine unit and could buy holdings in its core entertainment category, Gordon Crawford, its largest shareholder, said during a presentation this week.
'Time Warner just spun off their cable division, they are going to sell their print division, they are going to spin off AOL and they're just going to be Warner Brothers, HBO and the Turner Networks,' said Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group.
'Now, they will make acquisitions ... but they're probably going to buy just stuff in their wheel house of those businesses. They're not going to, I don't think, go very far afield from their core competency.'
Crawford made the comments during a Sept. 24 discussion at University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication entitled 'The Art of the Long View: The Media Company of 2020.'
Spokesmen for Time Warner could not be immediately reached for comment on Saturday.
Time Inc's magazines include popular titles such as People and Sports Illustrated. In the second quarter, revenue at Time Inc publishing, the largest U.S. magazine publisher, fell 22 percent to $915 million due to a 26 percent decline in advertising revenue.
While Crawford did not name specific acquisition targets, he did say there would be a 'winnowing process' during which weaker companies in the sector would be gobbled up.
The presentation, which was available online, was discussed in a BusinessWeek blog posted on Friday.
(Reporting by Jessica Wohl, Editing by Sandra Maler)
((jessica.wohl@thomsonreuters.com +1 312 408 8132; Reuters Messaging: jessica.wohl.reuters.com@reuters.net;)) Keywords: TIMEWARNER/ (See http://blogs.reuters.com/shop-talk/ for Shop Talk -- Reuters' retail and consumer blog.) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'Time Warner just spun off their cable division, they are going to sell their print division, they are going to spin off AOL and they're just going to be Warner Brothers, HBO and the Turner Networks,' said Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group.
'Now, they will make acquisitions ... but they're probably going to buy just stuff in their wheel house of those businesses. They're not going to, I don't think, go very far afield from their core competency.'
Crawford made the comments during a Sept. 24 discussion at University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication entitled 'The Art of the Long View: The Media Company of 2020.'
Spokesmen for Time Warner could not be immediately reached for comment on Saturday.
Time Inc's magazines include popular titles such as People and Sports Illustrated. In the second quarter, revenue at Time Inc publishing, the largest U.S. magazine publisher, fell 22 percent to $915 million due to a 26 percent decline in advertising revenue.
While Crawford did not name specific acquisition targets, he did say there would be a 'winnowing process' during which weaker companies in the sector would be gobbled up.
The presentation, which was available online, was discussed in a BusinessWeek blog posted on Friday.
(Reporting by Jessica Wohl, Editing by Sandra Maler)
((jessica.wohl@thomsonreuters.com +1 312 408 8132; Reuters Messaging: jessica.wohl.reuters.com@reuters.net;)) Keywords: TIMEWARNER/ (See http://blogs.reuters.com/shop-talk/ for Shop Talk -- Reuters' retail and consumer blog.) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.