AdAge has a report out today noting that Time Warner CEO, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, plans to lay off 75 or more people tomorrow. But this report says the cuts are coming primarily from the company's corporate offices. That would be much closer to home for the top brass there, so 75 of the 600 to 700 noted in the article would be a substantial signal that the company is making sacrifices top to bottom in a quest for shareholder rewards.

If this is the case, it would be coincidental with earnings, also scheduled for tomorrow morning. Bewkes still has time on his side to make his mark. Now that Carl Icahn isn't in the middle of the hornet's nest, the current shareholder base has become patient. A bear market trading pattern forces people to stop badgering CEOs so much, because relative performance gets harder and harder to prove.

This is Bewkes' first earnings report as head honcho there, but Dick Parsons was still in charge for most of this last quarter. Bewkes may go over a formal plan and he might not. Most likely the media conglomerate will outline a formal date that the actual plan will be announced.

Obviously, most of BloggingStocks' attention is probably going to pertain to Bewkes' forward plans for AOL. Many of the mega-merger watchers from last week think this puts added pressure on AOL, although that might not really be the case. Since that is opinion, I will hold off on going into details on that.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) shares closed down 2.7% today at $15.40. The 52-week trading range is $14.64 to $21.97. Stay tuned for earnings tomorrow.

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.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) announced that CEO Dick Parsons will step down at the end of the year. Current president and chief operating officer (and former head of HBO) Jeff Bewkes will replace him.

Bill Martin, editor of FindProfit observes, "The move comes as little surprise as Parsons' contract was running out in May 2008, and Bewkes had been groomed to be his successor." Parsons, he notes, will remain chairman.

The advisor explains, "The bottom line is that by all accounts, Bewkes is a solid executive, and one who may be apt to break up the media conglomerate. TWX has taken some limited actions under Parsons to unlock value by listing Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) shares and selling several magazines.

"Bewkes, however, is likely to take the restructuring a step further, including possibly spinning off AOL and TWC completely and selling the entire publishing division. As witnessed by today's reaction to the announced split-up of IAC/InteractiveCorp. (NASDAQ:IACI), such actions would most likely be cheered by investors.

He concludes, "While we had previously viewed TWX shares as a source of funds, we now don't believe it is time to sell. The stock, trading near a 52-week low, looks cheap, and a new CEO with a penchant for restructuring and unlocking value could be just the catalyst that TWX needs."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment commentary and favorite stocks of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

Earlier today, CNBC's David Faber announced that he has word that Dick Parsons would be stepping down as Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) CEO effective December 31, 2007. Jeff Bewkes is the likely heir apparent, according to Faber, although it seems Parsons may remain as Chairman.

This change at the top may portend unit sales, roll-ups, spin-offs, and even may lead a change in the ownership of Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC).

Management change is becoming almost the norm today. Citigroup's (NYSE:C) Chuck Prince is out, finally, although having Bob Rubin involved for anything more than an interim basis will be a mistake.

Larry Fink has been named as a potential replacement-head for Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) and some even have noted that he could be offered top billing at Citigroup (NYSE:C).

You could almost view the break-up announcement of IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ:IACI) as a CEO exit because the five individual units already have the heads named and, at least as of now, Barry Diller is going to stay with the IAC/Interactive parent. He said he'd maintain some role in one or two of the spin-offs but not all of them.

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Shares of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) are launching up over 2.5% mid-day on a report out of the Times Of London that Chairman & CEO Richard Parsons is set to announce his exit from the company.

"In the most dramatic shift of power for more than five years, Jeff Bewkes is poised to head one of the world's largest media groups ..."

This names Jeff Bewkes as successor, and if this is true will end up being the end of what many have already suspected. Parsons earlier this year even hinted at it himself.

You will want to watch Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) on this as well. As we were sending this, CNBC just noted this as well.

At a talk on September 20th at New York's 92nd Street Y, Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) CEO Bruce Wasserstein took a swipe at Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), BloggingStocks' parent, for its moribund stock price. At the same time, Wasserstein patted himself on the back for taking all his chips off the table when the stock levitated above $18 following the publication of a Lazard report on Time Warner.

Lazard, which was hired by corporate raider Carl Icahn in February 2006, authored a 343 page report that argued for a breakup of Time Warner and a big stock buyback. Beyond its $5 million fee, Lazard's reward from Icahn was a bonus based on how far above $18 Time Warner stock went. Lazard's report estimated that Time Warner's breakup value ranged between $23.30 and $26.57. Following the report, Time Warner stock rose -- peaking at $22.73 on January 12, 2007 -- before declining to its current $18.99 -- about 50 cents a share above its price in February 2006.

While he claimed to like Time Warner management -- he called CEO Dick Parsons "a lovely, well-liked guy" and president Jeff Bewkes, "a highly regarded management kind of guy" -- Wasserstein blamed Time Warner's moribund stock price on their decision not to follow the recommendations in his report. Wasserstein thought Time Warner took one of his ideas -- a $20 billion stock buyback (Time Warner bought back $12 billion) -- but ignored his other suggestions -- to do more spin-offs and to run AOL more effectively.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is sending its AOL corporate headquarters to New York City, where it can be closer to the Time Warner Inc. parent and closer to the ad markets. While this is a significant shift, this is not an entire relocation of the unit. Upon hearing of the AOL headquarters move the first thought was that this was going to be a move of thousands of workers, although that does not appear to be the case after looking through the news.

The largest transition here is integrating all of its newly acquired advertising properties into a new entity called Platform A, building on its Advertising.com network and the recent acquisitions of TACODA, Third Screen Media, Lightningcast and ADTECH. Platform A already reaches more than 90% of the domestic online audience, according to comScore Media Metrix. This was an area I had noted before as being the brightest spot inside the company if you looked at the total reach.

AOL will relocate its corporate headquarters to 770 Broadway in New York City, where the company has leased office space and where AOL's New York-based advertising and programming operations also will be based. According to the press release, AOL will continue to have significant operations in Dulles, VA, as well as offices in Mountain View, CA, and other locations.

AOL's Randy Falco and Ron Grant also present tonight at Merrill Lynch's Media & Entertainment Conference at 7:00 PM. At the same link you'll see that Dick Parsons, Chairman & CEO, will present at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference tomorrow at 2:05 PM EST.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• On January 1, 2008 Jeffrey L. Bewkes may be the new CEO of Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX), reported the Wall Street Journal. The current president and COO, is expected to take over from Richard Parsons.
• Paetec Holding Corp (NASDAQ: PAET) has paid $492M for McleodUSA, creating a tough rival to AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) for business telephone sales, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) is focusing its business on consumer electronics, and may sell its advanced chip production facility, with possible buyers including Toshiba Corporation (OTC: TOSBF) and IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM), reported the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The New York Times reported that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating five large energy companies, AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), Dominion (NYSE: D), Dynegy Inc (NYSE: DYN), Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) and Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL), in order to determine whether their plans to build coal-fired power plants pose undisclosed financial risks that their investors should know about.
  

WEBSITES:

• According to sources, BuddyTV, a TV community site, is being acquired by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported PaidContent.org.
• TheInquirer.net reported, citing sources, that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) will launch a "famous new platform" this Tuesday.

As previously noted this morning, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) did post gains on an EPS that were slightly ahead of expectations on revenues that were a tad under the estimates from First Call. The new $5 billion share buyback plan was to replace the recently completed $20 Billion share buyback plan. The company also reaffirmed $1.07 as its EPS target for the conglomerate. Going into the conference call, shares are down about 3.2% to $18.64.

At the start of the conference call, CEO & Chairman Dick Parsons reaffirmed 2007 OIBDA guidance and is maintaining growth at projections AOL and is maintaining its leverage. It reaffirmed $1.07 EPS for 2007, or $0.95 outside of items. Parsons also stated the following:

Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) is on track for objectives with more upside to come. The legacy footprint has growth and the Adelphia adds should grow. Cable will continue to be a growth generation for years to come.

Harry Potter has generated nearly $700 MILLION in worldwide sales already.

AOL is continuing to make progress for OIBDA growth, it also expects page view growth at AOL this year. This was the first quarter where page views grew, but there was a slowdown in ad growth as certain deals were winding down from the subscriber days. Email and search changes are building and increasing monetization. The team is satisfied with the results so far. Advertising is also seeing some shift to third party advertisers, but its advertising.com is seeing gains. The total AOL expectations are being stepped back from original projections that it will grow above the market rates [that is the first time this has been stated]. It has relaunched the AOL homepage in a new format and is in the process of new finance and other pages. It has spent over $500 million in acquisitions over the last 16 (or 18) months to build the AOL franchise.

When I look at Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and I think back to the merger with AOL I cannot help but think about all the value that evaporated rather quickly. Since that time billions of dollars in write-downs and write-offs have occurred, AOL was dropped from the name, and Time Warner has emerged slowly but surely from the kinds of challenges that business schools will be doing case studies on for many years to come.

I was a shareholder of AOL and stayed with it, so I am a TWX shareholder now. I anticipated the rise in the stock over the last year and made it one of my seven picks for 2007, optimistically believing it was set for more of the same growth. So far it has been dead money in 2007, not moving much in either direction. Carl Icahn made a big move on the stock last year and has since left with a tidy profit. He stirred things up a little but in the end did not have the backing to accomplish the changes he envisioned. Dick Parsons, CEO, made just enough changes to speed up the Time Warner train but not enough to alter its course.

Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) Dick Parsons commented earlier today about not getting out of publishing. Reuters is also reporting that the company is weighing its stakes in Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and in its AOL unit. A timeline has even been given for a potentially complete spin-off of Time Warner Cable, although that was indicated as a down the road decision, but none has yet been made.

In the past, Parsons had been leaning more to a "Keep AOL in the family" stance, but today's article is indicating that a consideration of a sale may come by the end of the year. Speculation has been more than abundant on this, especially given the impending "cash out" date at which Google has the option to essentially force Time Warner to either spin-off AOL or pay cash at the company's then-market value.

If the transition of AOL from a paid access service into a free content service has been as successful as the company claims, why then would it be reviewed for a potential sale? Follow the money. The $1 billion investment from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) for a 5% stake put in a $20 billion implied price tag on the unit. Is the unit worth more than that, or less? That's what the review will determine.

Instead of making a full sale, Time Warner may consider a partial spin-off of AOL back into a public company. This would give the online media company its own currency that is less dogged by the currently-unpopular conglomerate model so that it could make non-cash acquisitions. Time Warner should consider this route long before any outright sale, particularly considering that there would have to be additional goodwill write-downs for the added losses sustained. AOL now has many online ad operations that can openly compete with the other major companies in the field and the company has been making acquisitions.

This is a heated topic, that is for sure. It comes down to one's stance and opinion of the world. Wall Street has been force feeding the idea of separations to conglomerates (somewhat jokingly, just for the investment banking fees) to 'focus on core operations.' If companies divest too much they may end up just being smaller and more vulnerable without their old safety nets. No pun intended, but time and the markets will determine the outcome here.

According to a Reuters article, Dick Parsons of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) has noted that there are no plans for the media conglomerate to sell off its publishing division. There is still room for the company to reduce its overall portfolio holdings in the publishing division, even after it already made one large magazine-group sale.

It is interesting to note that Parsons is quoted in the article saying that a successful transition from print to digital could keep the publishing division in an 8%, 9%, or 10% growth business 'for a long time.'

It sure feels like Wall Street, in combination with competing media interests, is doing too much speculating and trying to force issues too much. The constant ploys for companies to be bullied into selling off assets and selling off units is daunting in many cases. Parsons has said before that he did not have plans to unload the entire publishing arm, and if you are a member of the media trying to force a story or force a change, you might as well just take Parsons at his word.

Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) CEO Dick Parsons had an extra payday last week thanks to options. But before you go out and panic, this is part of a planned share trading plan, so it will not be interpreted as a major exodus by management. The SEC filings show the exercise prices and even show the sale prices.

Parsons exercised 225,000 shares out of an options plan with a $15.72 strike price and exercised another 112,500 shares with a $19.66 strike price. These were subsequently sold in smaller blocks with an average sale being under 20,000 shares at any one time. That keeps any block volume selling from showing up and spooking any traders who keep their eyes on such sales.

If you add up all the sales it looks like the average stock sale execution came in at $21.45. With an average purchase price of $17.03 on 337,500 shares, it looks like Parsons took home an extra $1.49 million before figuring these block sales down to the exact penny.

That's not a bad pay day, but it shouldn't be a selling indication from the top.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) had no choice but to ask HBO head Chris Albrecht to resign following his arrest over the weekend for domestic violence.

If the world's largest media company had done nothing to Albrecht, it would have sent the message that what he was accused of doing wasn't a big deal when clearly it was quite serious. This isn't like the celebrities who get busted for drunk driving. They could have theoretically hurt someone. He actually is accused of hurting his girlfriend.

To be sure, Albrecht is a gifted executive who helped bring classic shows such as "The Sopranos," "Sex in the City" and "Deadwood" to the pay TV channel. HBO will not be the same without him, particularly as it looks for its next hit after the end of "The Sopranos."

Albrecht ran a business that was very important for Time Warner's bottom line. He is close to both Chief Executive Richard Parsons and President Jeffrey Bewkes.

But media reports indicate that he's got a volatile temper.

"His resignation comes on the same day that the Los Angeles Times reported that in 1991, HBO paid a settlement of at least $400,000 to a subordinate of Mr. Albrecht's, who contended that he tried to choke her during a confrontation in her office," according to the New York Times, which also confirmed the report. The woman involved in the incident had directly reported to Albrecht.

Let's hope that Albrecht gets his life straightened out and that his girlfriend gets the support she needs.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Highlights from today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required):
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) saves itself hundreds of millions in taxes through a complex structure that allows it to pay rent to itself.
• Altria Group (NYSE: MO) is expected to decide later this year on its next spinoff, splitting its U.S. business from its International business.
• Nissan Motor Co ADR's (NASDAQ: NSANY) new models may help it catch up to rival automakers, writes the "Heard in Asia" column.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Dick Parsons said that spinning off Time Warner Cable is a top priority for Time Warner Inc (NYSE: TWX) this year.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Associated Press, BP plc (NYSE: BP) will sell its U.K. refinery to Petroplus for $1.4B.
• The New York Post reported that Jones Apparel Group (NYSE: JNY) is contemplating breaking up the company, including a possible IPO for its Barney's chain.
• The Business wrote that ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) has begun talks to sell a part or all of its French oil business, valued at about $2.6B.