Turner signs off at Time Warner

[musicradio77]

BY CECILE DAURAT
BLOOMBERG NEWS

Ted Turner, Time Warner's biggest individual investor, will leave the board of the media company after a 10-year tenure marked by clashes with management and public criticism of the merger with America Online.
Turner, who sold cable-television assets including CNN to Time Warner in 1996, said in a statement yesterday that he decided not to seek re-election to Time Warner's board.

Carla Hills, a former U.S. trade representative, will also step down after the annual meeting in May, Time Warner said.

"It's the end of a chapter in Time Warner's history," said James Goss, an analyst at Barrington Research in Chicago. "Ted Turner is one of the higher profile media icons we have in this industry."

The resignations free up two seats that CEO Dick Parsons can fill with independent directors to help end a six-month battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn for control of the world's biggest media company.

Turner, who held 32.8 million shares as of December, earlier this week said Parsons is doing a good job "for the most part."

He declined to comment on Icahn's effort to lift Time Warner's share price.

The stock tumbled more than 60% since the $110 billion combination of AOL and Time Warner in 2001. Turner, 67, quit as vice chairman almost three years ago after saying he was stripped of operational duties following the deal. He now focuses on non-profit organizations such as the Turner Foundation, which supports environmental efforts.

Turner is leaving the board to concentrate on charity work, his spokesman Phillip Evans said in an interview. Hills, who turned 72 last month and has sat on Time Warner's board since 1993, reached a mandatory retirement age.

[theshark8777]

I think Ted Turner made a mistake selling out to Time Warner in the 90s (then the AOL fiasco in 2001) I wish he still held control of the Turner networks.