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American Morning

Minding Your Business: Case Closed

Aired January 13, 2003 - 07:48   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: Just moments ago, I talked with Steve Case, who is the chairman -- the outgoing chairman of AOL Time Warner, about his decision to step down.
And Andy Serwer is here to react to that. But first off, he is going to do a little market action.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I am. Good morning to you.

A great week last week on Wall Street. We're really starting off the year with a bang, which is nice to see. The Dow was up 183 points last week, the Nasdaq up 60, the S&P up as well. So far, so good this year. The Dow is up over 5 percent on the year, the Nasdaq is up over 8 percent on the year. That's your more volatile index, Paula.

And so, if we keep this up, the market will be up, what, 300-400 percent for the year?

ZAHN: Oh, there you go, Andy.

SERWER: Easy. You just extrapolate, right?

ZAHN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and all of those obvious things.

SERWER: Isn't that what they do on Wall Street? They extrapolate like that, right?

ZAHN: Well, everybody at this company would like to see our stockholder value go up that much.

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: What did you think of Steve Case...

SERWER: Well, I thought...

ZAHN: ... and his interview this morning?

SERWER: I thought actually he was candid, when he kept saying -- he kept using that word, "distraction," I was a distraction. I think Steve Case realized that he was a distraction by his presence. I think he did the right thing.

He said that only one shareholder and only one board member had approached him, but there are a lot of other shareholders who don't have the access to him that would have suggested it was time for him to leave.

And really to me, watching this company over the past year-and-a- half has been like a season of "The Sopranos." I mean, basically watching people...

ZAHN: Mind you, this is a company that Andy is working for.

SERWER: Right, yes, absolutely. You're watching -- there's the meter here. I'm going to give his discussion with you, Paula, a getting warmer, because it was the Spike Lee doing the right thing and knowing when it's time to go, rather than forcing the issue in the spring at the meeting.

ZAHN: All right, cut through some of what he said. This morning, he said he increased some of his holdings in the company. That was after selling a large block of stock at a point...

SERWER: Right.

ZAHN: ... where stockholders are counting on the 30 percent pop that those folks were projecting.

SERWER: Right, and let's lay this out a little bit. He very publicly bought stock in an open market, but at the same time over the past year, he had been selling a lot of stock. Then he told you, well, my holdings have increased. That's got to be because he had more stock options. Unclear to me, but it's got to be because of more stock options, rather than going and buying stock in the open market.

ZAHN: Do we go into the future then as Time Warner? Are they going to dump the AOL from the company's...

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Well, I think that might be rubbing a little salt in the wounds early on, but in the future, I would not be -- I would not be surprised if that happened. I mean, after all, it's not the overwhelmingly huge part of the company. And the Time Warner businesses -- the movie company, the record business, the magazine company, CNN -- are a bigger part, and they're brands that are perhaps going to be more valuable going forward.

ZAHN: We will follow your projections on both the market count and AOL Time Warner. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: OK.

ZAHN: See you in a little bit.

SERWER: Yes.

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 13, 2003 - 07:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Just moments ago, I talked with Steve Case, who is the chairman -- the outgoing chairman of AOL Time Warner, about his decision to step down.
And Andy Serwer is here to react to that. But first off, he is going to do a little market action.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I am. Good morning to you.

A great week last week on Wall Street. We're really starting off the year with a bang, which is nice to see. The Dow was up 183 points last week, the Nasdaq up 60, the S&P up as well. So far, so good this year. The Dow is up over 5 percent on the year, the Nasdaq is up over 8 percent on the year. That's your more volatile index, Paula.

And so, if we keep this up, the market will be up, what, 300-400 percent for the year?

ZAHN: Oh, there you go, Andy.

SERWER: Easy. You just extrapolate, right?

ZAHN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and all of those obvious things.

SERWER: Isn't that what they do on Wall Street? They extrapolate like that, right?

ZAHN: Well, everybody at this company would like to see our stockholder value go up that much.

SERWER: Yes.

ZAHN: What did you think of Steve Case...

SERWER: Well, I thought...

ZAHN: ... and his interview this morning?

SERWER: I thought actually he was candid, when he kept saying -- he kept using that word, "distraction," I was a distraction. I think Steve Case realized that he was a distraction by his presence. I think he did the right thing.

He said that only one shareholder and only one board member had approached him, but there are a lot of other shareholders who don't have the access to him that would have suggested it was time for him to leave.

And really to me, watching this company over the past year-and-a- half has been like a season of "The Sopranos." I mean, basically watching people...

ZAHN: Mind you, this is a company that Andy is working for.

SERWER: Right, yes, absolutely. You're watching -- there's the meter here. I'm going to give his discussion with you, Paula, a getting warmer, because it was the Spike Lee doing the right thing and knowing when it's time to go, rather than forcing the issue in the spring at the meeting.

ZAHN: All right, cut through some of what he said. This morning, he said he increased some of his holdings in the company. That was after selling a large block of stock at a point...

SERWER: Right.

ZAHN: ... where stockholders are counting on the 30 percent pop that those folks were projecting.

SERWER: Right, and let's lay this out a little bit. He very publicly bought stock in an open market, but at the same time over the past year, he had been selling a lot of stock. Then he told you, well, my holdings have increased. That's got to be because he had more stock options. Unclear to me, but it's got to be because of more stock options, rather than going and buying stock in the open market.

ZAHN: Do we go into the future then as Time Warner? Are they going to dump the AOL from the company's...

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: Well, I think that might be rubbing a little salt in the wounds early on, but in the future, I would not be -- I would not be surprised if that happened. I mean, after all, it's not the overwhelmingly huge part of the company. And the Time Warner businesses -- the movie company, the record business, the magazine company, CNN -- are a bigger part, and they're brands that are perhaps going to be more valuable going forward.

ZAHN: We will follow your projections on both the market count and AOL Time Warner. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: OK.

ZAHN: See you in a little bit.

SERWER: Yes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.