Jeff Bewkes' first day as Time Warner CEO negated by market

Jeff Bewkes faced a tough market day yesterday on his official first day as CEO of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), although this was systematic in the stock market. This wasn't his fault since the stock market was so crummy, and it looks like the Street has already braced for much of the worst. Time Warner shares fell 1.3% to $16.29, less than 1% above the 52-week low of $16.17. The DJIA fell 1.6% to 13,043.96, and the S&P 500 fell 1.44% to 1,447.16. Shares were actually up after the open Monday, so you can blame just about all this on the stock market.

What is interesting here is that Wall Street is talking positively about a turnaround at Time Warner, or at least they aren't just panning it. Maybe that indicates that investors are willing to at least give Bewkes a chance.

It is still unknown if Bewkes is going to offer a partial share exchange for Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to create a further distance between the media giant and the cable operator, or if Bewkes is going to keep or jettison the current relationship.

There are still several publishing properties that are likely review candidates. And of course there is the matter with AOL, and Wall Street has mixed expectations of what Bewkes will change there.

Time Warner Inc. shares only traded 20.5 million shares (under the 22 million share average volume) so you can directly point the finger at the stock market rather than the new leadership. The only real issue is that if this market continues to slide further and drag TWX under the $16.17 52-week low, then Bewkes will have to address issues that weren't even directly under his leadership.

That's the stock market for you.