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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Minding Your Business'
Aired January 30, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, AOL Time Warner, the parent company of this network, announced a record loss yesterday, the same day CNN founder Ted Turner said he will resign in May as vice chairman.
For more on that, Andy Serwer, who is minding your business.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Paula.
Two huge headlines. Let's check on the markets yesterday. First, stocks managed to eke out a bit of a gain yesterday.
ZAHN: Oh, I wondered what word you were going to use for 21 points up.
SERWER: That's an eke. No, that's an eke, 21 points up on the Dow. All the other indexes follow suit. But really overshadowed by the big news you just mentioned, which happened after the bell. Two headlines, Ted Turner stepping down and a mammoth loss.
Let's talk about the loss. First of all, it's actually a write- off, $45 billion. As I indicated yesterday, two times as much as analysts had expected. You add the $45 to the $54 previously announced and it's a $100 billion write-off for this company, the biggest in corporate history.
ZAHN: Wow.
SERWER: Another way of calling $100 billion, Paula, a tenth of a trillion.
ZAHN: Ouch.
SERWER: A tenth of a trillion dollar write-off. That's just amazing.
What that means is the value of the combined companies, AOL Time Warner, is a lot less than the company had estimated it was two or three years ago, at the time of the merger.
ZAHN: Although I am told for the first quarter of this year they're predicting, what, single digit growth, which is better than a lot of people were predicting.
SERWER: Yes. Yes, I mean the company is still making money on an operating basis, but obviously they said that this year is going to be another year of putting things back together.
Let's talk about Ted Turner, shall we? The founder of CNN steps down as AOL vice chairman. The big is why? Well, I really think the answer is the thrill is gone for Ted. He was unhappy with the direction of the company, unhappy with the losses, unhappy with the merger. There's been no operating responsibility for Ted Turner. He's complained that no one's listening to his advice.
And another thing is it's difficult for him to sell stock being an officer of the company. He'd like to do that. He's looking to retire, focus more on his philanthropic projects, and I basically just think he's disillusioned. And what does AOL stand for? Again, another ousted leader. That's what those three letters stand for.
You've got Pittman, Turner, Levine, Case. Only Parsons remains. The stock is weaker in pre-market trading, down nearly 10 percent, $1.30 to 12 and change. Will this company ever get on its feet?
ZAHN: Absolutely.
SERWER: It will.
ZAHN: Isn't that what you work so hard to do every day?
SERWER: With us working for you. We're working here trying to make it happen. But it's very disillusioning, really, if you're an investor, an employee and there are thousands and thousands of those across the country.
ZAHN: And obviously we feel badly about the individual stockholders that lost a lot of money. But Ted Turner was out, what, way more than a billion bucks?
SERWER: Yes. Yes. And still one of the largest shareholders in the company.
ZAHN: Wow.
Thanks.
SERWER: OK.
ZAHN: Keep on working hard.
SERWER: Yes, right, you too.
ZAHN: Get those profits up, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 30, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, AOL Time Warner, the parent company of this network, announced a record loss yesterday, the same day CNN founder Ted Turner said he will resign in May as vice chairman.
For more on that, Andy Serwer, who is minding your business.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Paula.
Two huge headlines. Let's check on the markets yesterday. First, stocks managed to eke out a bit of a gain yesterday.
ZAHN: Oh, I wondered what word you were going to use for 21 points up.
SERWER: That's an eke. No, that's an eke, 21 points up on the Dow. All the other indexes follow suit. But really overshadowed by the big news you just mentioned, which happened after the bell. Two headlines, Ted Turner stepping down and a mammoth loss.
Let's talk about the loss. First of all, it's actually a write- off, $45 billion. As I indicated yesterday, two times as much as analysts had expected. You add the $45 to the $54 previously announced and it's a $100 billion write-off for this company, the biggest in corporate history.
ZAHN: Wow.
SERWER: Another way of calling $100 billion, Paula, a tenth of a trillion.
ZAHN: Ouch.
SERWER: A tenth of a trillion dollar write-off. That's just amazing.
What that means is the value of the combined companies, AOL Time Warner, is a lot less than the company had estimated it was two or three years ago, at the time of the merger.
ZAHN: Although I am told for the first quarter of this year they're predicting, what, single digit growth, which is better than a lot of people were predicting.
SERWER: Yes. Yes, I mean the company is still making money on an operating basis, but obviously they said that this year is going to be another year of putting things back together.
Let's talk about Ted Turner, shall we? The founder of CNN steps down as AOL vice chairman. The big is why? Well, I really think the answer is the thrill is gone for Ted. He was unhappy with the direction of the company, unhappy with the losses, unhappy with the merger. There's been no operating responsibility for Ted Turner. He's complained that no one's listening to his advice.
And another thing is it's difficult for him to sell stock being an officer of the company. He'd like to do that. He's looking to retire, focus more on his philanthropic projects, and I basically just think he's disillusioned. And what does AOL stand for? Again, another ousted leader. That's what those three letters stand for.
You've got Pittman, Turner, Levine, Case. Only Parsons remains. The stock is weaker in pre-market trading, down nearly 10 percent, $1.30 to 12 and change. Will this company ever get on its feet?
ZAHN: Absolutely.
SERWER: It will.
ZAHN: Isn't that what you work so hard to do every day?
SERWER: With us working for you. We're working here trying to make it happen. But it's very disillusioning, really, if you're an investor, an employee and there are thousands and thousands of those across the country.
ZAHN: And obviously we feel badly about the individual stockholders that lost a lot of money. But Ted Turner was out, what, way more than a billion bucks?
SERWER: Yes. Yes. And still one of the largest shareholders in the company.
ZAHN: Wow.
Thanks.
SERWER: OK.
ZAHN: Keep on working hard.
SERWER: Yes, right, you too.
ZAHN: Get those profits up, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
