Case, Levin: Not Selling Off Cable
By Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 1/31/2001 6:54:00 PM
Executives at AOL Time Warner Inc. squelched speculation that they are looking to sell off the company's cable assets, adding that they would more likely grow their cable holdings over time.
'If you look out over the next few years, you'll see us as a buyer, not a seller,' AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case told a group of analysts Wednesday night.
CEO Gerry Levin added that cable, with 12.8 million subscribers, is a major contributor to AOL's bottom line.
'Cable is entering a phase in terms of financial performance where it is right up there with [America Online] in terms of driving the company's growth,' Levin said.
Some analysts had speculated that once the AOL Time Warner deal was completed, the cable assets might be spun off.
AOL has done similar things in the past -- it swapped its backbone network in 1997 with WorldCom Inc. But co-chief operating officer Bob Pittman said cable is a different situation.
'We divested ourselves of infrastructure where we found someone else to provide it easier and cheaper with more flexibility,' Pittman said. 'But all of these other elements, we are quite willing to own and maintain it if it is the essential part of getting at and delivering the consumer promise. Which brings us to, it [cable] is a terrific business and not only a terrific business today, but a platform to build other businesses.'
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