AOL: A punching bag in need of a big hit

Iria · Apr 30, 2006, 07:23 PM

Source: IHT
___________
Time Warner will announce its first-quarter results on Wednesday, the first since the Icahn Insurgency against the company fizzled. Aside from a renewed enthusiasm for cable television - one of Time Warner's myriad businesses - Wall Street is not expecting sudden miracles from the planet's biggest media conglomerate. And, yet again, there is one standout reason for the blasé view of the company: the prospects for America Online, officially rechristened earlier this month as the zippier-sounding AOL.

Jessica Reif Cohen, a media analyst at Merrill Lynch, lowered her estimates for revenue and earnings at Time Warner "largely due to anticipated weakness at AOL." Anthony J. Noto of Goldman Sachs forecast only a modest single-digit long-term growth rate for the company unless it can return AOL to "meaningful" growth in revenue and operating earnings - a prospect, he made clear, "we do not believe will happen in the foreseeable future."

Apr 30, 2006, 07:23 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 74	AOL: A punching bag in need of a big hit Source: IHT ___________ Time Warner will announce its first-quarter results on Wednesday, the first since the Icahn Insurgency against the company fizzled. Aside from a renewed enthusiasm for cable television - one of Time Warner's myriad businesses - Wall Street is not expecting sudden miracles from the planet's biggest media conglomerate. And, yet again, there is one standout reason for the blasé view of the company: the prospects for America Online, officially rechristened earlier this month as the zippier-sounding AOL. Jessica Reif Cohen, a media analyst at Merrill Lynch, lowered her estimates for revenue and earnings at Time Warner "largely due to anticipated weakness at AOL." Anthony J. Noto of Goldman Sachs forecast only a modest single-digit long-term growth rate for the company unless it can return AOL to "meaningful" growth in revenue and operating earnings - a prospect, he made clear, "we do not believe will happen in the foreseeable future."