A lot of people think that AOL/TW should spin off AOL as a separate company. That doesn’t go nearly far enough. AOL/TW should be broken into at least seven different companies, which may recombine pieces of other acqusitions.
- AOL — online service
- Warner Brothers — film and TV studios, including Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema
- HBO/Turner — television networks, including CNN, TNT, HBO, WB
- Roadrunner — cable systems: just the wires, no production or networks
- Time — magazines
- WEA — records
- Little Brown — books
Each would be an independent powerhouse in its industry and unlock the value destroyed by phoney corporate synergy.