Steve Mehs
01-30-03, 03:13 AM
AOL Time Warner, looking to raise money to reduce its heavy debt load, said Wednesday it sold its 8.4-percent stake in Hughes Electronics, parent of DirecTV, for close to $800 million.
AOL sold the stake in Hughes in a block trade to Bank of America, which is expected to resell the shares on the open market, reported the Wall Street Journal. The sale of the Hughes stake occurred Tuesday, the media giant confirmed.
The media giant needs to shed $26 billion in debt, and has been eyeing the sale of several assets, including its book publishing division and other non-core assets, such as Comedy Central.
After the market close Wednesday, AOL Time Warner reported a net loss from continuing operations of $44.9 billion, or $10.01 per share, for 2002. Included in the year-end numbers is a $45.5 billion charge taken for the decline in value of the company's America Online business and other assets.
AOL closed up Wednesday, to $13.96. Hughes fell to $10.10.
In addition to year-end numbers, AOL Time Warner said Ted Turner will step down as vice chairman in May. The departure of the cable/satellite pioneer comes after AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case said he also will leave the company.
In his notification to AOL CEO Dick Parsons about his plans to depart, Turner said he wants to spend more time with his philanthropic interests. "Over the last five years, it has become even clearer to me how much personal satisfaction I derive from these activities. Therefore, I would like to now devote even more time, effort and resources to them," he said.
Turner debuted the TBS superstation in the 1970s. He uplinked the signal via satellite, allowing cable head-ends to pick up the signal. After that initial success, Turner founded CNN and other Turner nets, such as Cartoon Network and TNT, that are carried by cable and satellite TV services.
From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com/skyreport/jan2003/013003.shtm#one) (Used with Permission)
AOL sold the stake in Hughes in a block trade to Bank of America, which is expected to resell the shares on the open market, reported the Wall Street Journal. The sale of the Hughes stake occurred Tuesday, the media giant confirmed.
The media giant needs to shed $26 billion in debt, and has been eyeing the sale of several assets, including its book publishing division and other non-core assets, such as Comedy Central.
After the market close Wednesday, AOL Time Warner reported a net loss from continuing operations of $44.9 billion, or $10.01 per share, for 2002. Included in the year-end numbers is a $45.5 billion charge taken for the decline in value of the company's America Online business and other assets.
AOL closed up Wednesday, to $13.96. Hughes fell to $10.10.
In addition to year-end numbers, AOL Time Warner said Ted Turner will step down as vice chairman in May. The departure of the cable/satellite pioneer comes after AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case said he also will leave the company.
In his notification to AOL CEO Dick Parsons about his plans to depart, Turner said he wants to spend more time with his philanthropic interests. "Over the last five years, it has become even clearer to me how much personal satisfaction I derive from these activities. Therefore, I would like to now devote even more time, effort and resources to them," he said.
Turner debuted the TBS superstation in the 1970s. He uplinked the signal via satellite, allowing cable head-ends to pick up the signal. After that initial success, Turner founded CNN and other Turner nets, such as Cartoon Network and TNT, that are carried by cable and satellite TV services.
From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com/skyreport/jan2003/013003.shtm#one) (Used with Permission)