Time Warner's second quarter earnings received a neutral reaction from Wall Street, despite AOL's failure to deliver. The Internet division reported a revenue loss of 38% to $1.25 billion--mostly due
to the company ditching its dial-up subscription business last year. Ad revenue grew a tepid 16%. Most analysts expected growth to be twice that; the rise was far less than the company reported in
recent quarters. Earnings increased 9.4%.
As for the parent company, another year, another Time Warner buyback. The media said it would repurchase $5 billion of its stock during the
earnings call.The plan comes on the heels of a $20 billion stock buyback over several years, which cut the company's outstanding shares by nearly 23%. Overall, Time Warner saw net income rise 5.2% to
$1.07 billion, thanks mostly to the strength of its cable division.
Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »