Reuters Insider - Time Warner talks the balk; needs to walk the walk

Discovery Enterprises

06/08/2014 22:11

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 Source:             Thomson Reuters                                   
                                                                       
 Description:        Time Warner's better-than-expected earnings were  
                     overshadowed by a sell-off in the stock tied to   
                     the withdrawal of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century's 
                     Fox's $80 billion dollar bid. Bobbi Rebell        
                     reports.                                          
 
 
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Transcript (May be auto-generated)

 The clock is now ticking for Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes to prove to investors he 
was right to give Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox and his $80 billion takeover
offer the brush-off. Earnings came in strong. But shareholders sold the stock, 
seemingly laser-focused on the unexpected premature breakup of what could have 
been a lucrative and game-changing marriage. Reuters M&A Correspondent Liana 
Baker: I think Time Warner's in a tough spot. They tried to communicate to 
investors that they're going to create their value. They're going to do a big 
share buyback and ratings are going to improve across their networks. But I 
think it's going to be a tough sell. Some analysts are calling for Time Warner 
to create more value, maybe do a partial spin of HBO or something more drastic 
because essentially they had a deal at hand; now, that's not there. HBO has been
hitting on all cylinders with hits like "Game of Thrones." The last season was 
the most watched season of an original series in HBO history. And now that Fox 
made the first move, there could be new suitors wanting to take Time Warner off 
the market. S&P Capital IQ's Tuna Amobi: Google has been mentioned; Amazon, 
which just got- has struck a potential groundbreaking deal with HBO, could also 
be a potential buyer given Amazon's emphasis on content; anyone of far-fetched 
scenario- Apple as well. So, so you look at all kinds of possibilities and of 
course even within the media landscape, some of the other major content 
companies I think it's not inconceivable that the large media conglomerates 
whether it's a Discovery or Scripps, or any of the other niche targeted 
networks, AMC Networks for example, all of these could be hypothetical 
candidates. Amobi also thinks Murdoch could be back, biding his time to get a 
second chance down the road, maybe even at a more attractive price