Time Warner’s AOL Puzzle: Is There A Solution?

It’s like riding a yoyo. One day, AOL is being praised for being on the right track — offering high-speed access, pushing up ad revenues, etc.; the next, the second-guessers are out in full force again. This time it’s the New York Times: “When Mr. Parsons says AOL is for keeps, he may well be saying that he has no other choice. For now, there is probably no prospective buyer willing to pay Time Warner more for AOL than it is worth to keep.” Reporters Saul Hansell and Geraldine Fabrikant say “some analysts” value AOL at $8 billion.
Lots of conjecture, fortune telling and some missing pieces; I’ve read the story through a couple of times and don’t see any mention of the AOL High Speed trial we told you about Thursday.
A reminder: despite what some persist in seeing as a contradiction, TW Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons didn’t say AOL was for sale or would be spun off and then retract it. He said that if the web portal strategy doesn’t take hold or it doesn’t unlock TW’s stock value, those are possible options.

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