AOL: Record loss, no profit gain in '03
Date: Thursday, January 30 @ 09:13:48 GMT
Topic: w00t!
NEW YORK - AOL Time Warner Inc. stock tumbled in early trading Thursday after a record corporate loss, coupled with the prospect for no growth in operating profits in the near-term.
More inside
AOL Time Warner's overall loss for 2002 was $98.7bn (£60bn), the result of a turbulent year.
The company's shares have slumped 70% since the merger between internet service provider America Online and the media giant Time Warner two years ago.
The merger was the biggest in the world, and was designed to pipe Hollywood-style entertainment through the internet.
Mr Turner, founder of CNN, sold his media group to Time Warner and became vice chairman of AOL Time Warner at the time of the merger, which he famously described as "better than sex".
The media group said he was leaving for personal reasons.
Mr Turner had described his role as vice chairman as "a title without portfolio ... like the Emperor of Japan," saying he had one foot on the sidewalk.
"With this team in place, I am optimistic that the company will be able to move forward and reach its true potential," he said in a statement.
List of losses
Earlier this month, AOL Time Warner's chairman Steve Case quit. He was seen as the driving force of the merger but blamed by some investors as a factor in its demise.
The company's annual loss of $98.7bn, or $10.1 per share, was sharply higher than last year's loss of $4.9bn or $1.1 a share, dragged down by the falling value of its internet business.
Overall sales for the last three-month period rose 8%.
Dick Parsons, elected as chairman following Mr Case's departure, said the company "will strive to run each of our businesses as well as or better than before, with a continued major focus on stabilising and revitalising America Online".
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