Remember a couple of years ago when Carl Icahn wanted to break up Time-Warner? That is, spin off various parts of the company, in hopes of gaining more shareholder value?
It was February 7, 2006, to be exact, when Icahn, having bought a substantial minority stake in the troubled media conglomerate, proposed a four-way break-up of the company. But at the the time, T-W CEO Richard Parsons nixed the deal, proving yet again that most corporate boards of directors aren't worth much. Back in early '06, T-W stock was at $18.40 (down from its all time high of $91 in 1999).
Nice work, Dick! Twenty-two months ago, you chased away an investor/suitor who could have actually given T-W shareholders a boost. Nearly two years later, the stock closed today at $16.67, down more than 10% from the Icahn moment--but who's counting?
And now that Parsons is finally gone, replaced by Jeff Bewkes we see more confirmation that T-W is moving forward toward a corporate breakup, thanks to Bloomberg's Gillian Wee.
