As a long-term shareholder I appreciated news of the breakout of Time Warner Cable.
Now, I'm sure some clicking on this post thought that maybe a typo had escaped the editors, but I did mean "muddle" in the title of this post and not "middle". Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) has been encouraged for some time by shareholders, Carl Icahn, analysts, and various prognosticators and their like to give the market place a clear picture of the company's assets, company's goals, and to unlock their hidden value. This is value that many viewed as mired in a muddle of slow-moving, misdirected pieces aggregated in a conglomerate, lead by a board that just did not get it or get with it.
The news that TWX is going to release Time Warner Cable, which flies under the banner TWC, from its corporate bondage was welcomed by Wall Street and I'm sure Mr. Icahn. In fact this plan may be one of the things shared with Carl Icahn months ago that pacified him and his investor group from "throwing things" in the meetings with Chairman Richard Parsons. This and dramatic changes at the AOL division which are still ongoing.
Continued clarity of purpose and strong leadership will continue to bring value to TWX in the coming years so I will be holding on for a while.
There are many companies stuck in the muddle that should give some thought to this issue of clarity and give investors something they can understand while demonstrating they themselves (corporate executives) know what they are doing.
Other companies that I believe are stuck in the muddle include the following: Yahoo (YHOO); Sun Microsystems (SUNW) which is just plain stuck; General Electric (GE) which should at least tell us why they must continue to own NBC; Microsoft (MSFT) is less muddled lately and 2007 should be their opportunity to come clean; Citigroup (C) is going nowhere fast with lots of potential and nothing happening -- this is one that should definitely "speed up, slow down, or get the hell out of the way"; Ford (G) and General Motors (GM)... could they be more muddled up? Anybody want to add to the list of muddled companies? There are plenty.
Disclosure: In addition to owning TWX, I own Ford bonds bought at a discount to face value. I hold no other position long or short in any other stock mentioned.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-24-2006 @ 10:24PM
Mr. noitall said...
It's good to see you're back, Sheldon.
There has been alot of talk about TWX selling AOL lately. I think it would be a mistake at this time.
While other companies are being praised for trying to merge movies, t.v., and music with online services, TWX is being pressured into moving in the opposite direction. I don't get it. TWX allready has alot of the pieces in place that other companies are trying to put together. The merger of AOL & Time Warner took place right before the dot.com crash, so it has allways been labeled as a failure and a mistake. I think management & the shareholders just can't get past that perception. I think if they open their minds and realize that maybe it was a good idea that was ahead of it's time, (although the timing was bad) they would notice that they got what others are trying to build and start to make it work for them. I think if kept together TWX could compete with Google and Yahoo, and offer services that compete with Ebay/Paypal, Apple, plus much more. Maybe they should consider hiring that 22 year old kid, Jon Lech Johansen, he seems like a very bright and innovative young man.