AOL, Disney discuss news merger
Sept. 24
LOS ANGELES, CA (MSNBC) -- AOL Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co. have held talks about merging their respective CNN and ABC news divisions into “a stand-alone news powerhouse,” the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
THE NEWSPAPER, CITING sources familiar with the situation, added the negotiations got a lukewarm reception last week at an AOL Time Warner board meeting.
The talks had been sporadic for 18 months, but gained momentum in recent weeks, the Times quoted sources as saying.
It is the closest CNN has come in its two-year effort to make an alliance with a rival broadcaster’s news division in a bid to cut costs, the paper said.
The Times said both companies acknowledged ongoing discussions about a news venture.
“We’ve had conversations for the last 18 months and no deal has been reached,” Disney spokesperson Zenia Mucha was quoted as saying.
AOL Time Warner spokesman Brad Turell told the Times: “We have had conversations with two networks and no deals have been reached.”
Under the plan the two companies discussed, the two news divisions would be merged into a new company with revenues of more than $1.6 billion. CNN would account for more than $1 billion of that and ABC the rest, according to the Times.
AOL Time Warner would own from two-thirds to three-quarters of the new company, and Disney the remainder, the paper reported, adding that operational control of the joint news venture might be more evenly split, mitigating some objections from ABC.
CNN earns more than $200 million a year before taxes, while ABC News will earn an estimated pre-tax profit of $10 million to $15 million this fiscal year, the Times said, citing people familiar with the numbers
Sept. 24
LOS ANGELES, CA (MSNBC) -- AOL Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co. have held talks about merging their respective CNN and ABC news divisions into “a stand-alone news powerhouse,” the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
THE NEWSPAPER, CITING sources familiar with the situation, added the negotiations got a lukewarm reception last week at an AOL Time Warner board meeting.
The talks had been sporadic for 18 months, but gained momentum in recent weeks, the Times quoted sources as saying.
It is the closest CNN has come in its two-year effort to make an alliance with a rival broadcaster’s news division in a bid to cut costs, the paper said.
The Times said both companies acknowledged ongoing discussions about a news venture.
“We’ve had conversations for the last 18 months and no deal has been reached,” Disney spokesperson Zenia Mucha was quoted as saying.
AOL Time Warner spokesman Brad Turell told the Times: “We have had conversations with two networks and no deals have been reached.”
Under the plan the two companies discussed, the two news divisions would be merged into a new company with revenues of more than $1.6 billion. CNN would account for more than $1 billion of that and ABC the rest, according to the Times.
AOL Time Warner would own from two-thirds to three-quarters of the new company, and Disney the remainder, the paper reported, adding that operational control of the joint news venture might be more evenly split, mitigating some objections from ABC.
CNN earns more than $200 million a year before taxes, while ABC News will earn an estimated pre-tax profit of $10 million to $15 million this fiscal year, the Times said, citing people familiar with the numbers
