AOL Time Warner Posts Loss of Nearly $100 Billion!!!

Reuters ^ | January 29, 2003

[Timesink]

AOL TW Posts Loss of Nearly $100 Billion

Wed January 29, 2003 04:56 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AOL Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media company, on Wednesday posted a loss for all of 2002 of nearly $100 billion, the largest annual loss in U.S. history, after taking a $45.5 billion charge in the fourth quarter to write down the value of assets.

AOL reported a fourth quarter net loss of $44.9 billion, or $10.04 a share, after taking the non-cash charge to write down the value of its embattled America Online business and other assets, compared to a year-ago loss of $1.8 billion, or 41 cents a share.

The company, which in the first quarter had reported a net loss of $54 billion after writing down the value of assets, posted a full-year 2002 net loss of $98.7 billion.

The full-year loss exceeded the gross domestic product of Egypt in 2001.

Strength in the company's film/entertainment business, with hits like the "Lord of the Rings" sequel, and cable networks offset weakness in the fourth quarter at America Online, which has been suffering from a sharp slowdown in advertising spending and subscriber growth.

The quarter capped a tumultuous year. About two years after AOL completed its $106.2 billion purchase of Time Warner, the old media veterans from Time Warner are running the show and the key architects of the deal have been forced out amid calls from angry investors that view the merger as a failure.

AOL Time Warner said its revenue in the quarter grew 8 percent to $11.4 billion.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) -- a key measure of cash flow --- rose 16 percent to $2.8 billion from a year-earlier for the quarter.

Analysts polled by Multex expected, on average, EBITDA of $2.6 billion.

The company said it sees revenue growth for the 2003 full year in the mid-single digits and said it sees EDITDA to be essentially unchanged to down in the low-single digits.

Earlier on Wednesday, AOL Time Warner said it sold its 8.4 percent stake in Hughes Electronics Corp. as part of its efforts to cut its debt load.

The company said it plans to reduce total consolidated debt to approximately $20 billion by the end of 2004.

Shares of AOL closed up 30 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $13.96 on the New York Stock Exchange ahead of the results.

[Destro]

Case-AOL stock holders are winners. They suckered Time Warner real good. SUUUUCKERS!

[SamAdams76]

Is anybody out there that still uses AOL for Internet access? Is anybody out there that still gets their news from CNN? Is anybody out there that still plays PacMan...

[Mudboy Slim]

Perhaps ABC will sell off ESPN, then go bankrupt, allowing some Conservative Consortium** to take over the Company in a Hostile Takeover...that's my DREAM Scenario...MUD

**Said Conservative Consortium will necessarily include El Rushbo!!

[HassanBenSobar]

Nothing to worry about. Under IRS rules, losses can be carried back as a credit (to get refunds for past taxes paid up to 5 years ago), and can be carried forward as a deduction for future profits up to 20 years.

The tax code is a joke...but it sort of helps corporations, I guess.

[Man of the Right]

You know a company's on its way to liquidation when they start emphasizing EBITDA rather than net income.

[Liz]

Nice dream........hope it comes true.

[Liz]

You nailed it, Gramps. Ted Turnip sure didn't leave the failing AOL farm of his own volition. Spin-offs are in the offing alright. Have to in order to save themselves. Betcha they're counting the silverware before they go belly-up.

[Liz]

McAuliffe better watch hisself........Betcha Dummycrats got the DNC HDQ landmined with banana peels that have TMcA written all over 'em. Heheh.

[Don Corleone]

Gee...and they are not even UNION...could it be bad management can also FU a company? Nah!!!

[eleni121]

Why do I have a big smile on my face hearing this news? Because I sold this stock a long time ago when I realized I was backing a bunch of loonie left wingers.

[Liz]

Ted Turnip is back breeding buffaloes......

He's so broke he's using his own sperm to breed 'em.

[Lester Moore]

They send me 20 of those stupid AOL disks a year...

They make dandy, lightweight backpacking mirrors and emergency signal mirrors and lil' frizbee toys. I save'em for the little kids to play with.

[Mr. Jeeves]

AOL TW Posts Loss of Nearly $100 Billion

Did Ted check his other pants?

[flair2000]

What are they good for? Just outta curiosity. I've got quite a few and can't think of anything.

My wife uses them in the garden to keep the birds away.

[TC Rider]

Wow. That is a lot of money. Wow.

They found out that AOL was paying $100 each for those CDs they were giving away.

[George W. Bush]

Kazaa has destroyed them. All that bandwidth...Yep. Kazaa, for sure. Heh-heh.

[butter pecan fan]

Wow. That is a lot of money. Wow.

Well, you know what they say, CheneyChick. $100 billion here, $100 billion there, pretty soon we're talking some real money...

[Poohbah]

Nope. It's all the spammers using AOL as their gateway. I killed something like 60% of my spam by filtering on "From: aol.com" and then using an exception list for the three people I know who actually use an AOL address.

[185JHP]

IMO the verse in Proverbs about "a proud look, a lying tongue..." had something to do with this.