While investor Carl Icahn's apparent threat to shake up the status quo at Time Warner seems like a quixotic joust at an $86 billion windmill, his assault will force all big media players to more
aggressively respond to laggard stock prices and changing industry dynamics. It is a long overdue wake-up call for major media conglomerates, whose stocks continue to woefully underperform while they
wrestle with unprecedented business and economic turmoil. So far, big media's response to heightened investor pressure to sell operating assets, increase leverage and return more value to shareholders
has been record stock buybacks and dividends.
Read the whole story at The Hollywood Reporter, August 11, 2005 »