Updated: Steve Case took his newly public campaign to dis-integrate Time Warner to the next level with a hour-long live text chat on WashingtonPost.com. Some highlights:
– The will he/won’t he question gets knocked off first thing: “… returning to AOL is not something I’d be interested in, no matter what happens there.” He added later: “I have closed the AOL chapter of my life.”
– Case said he likes and respects TW Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons — and considers him a friend even though they don’t agree on the best path for the company: “I was reluctant to go public with my concerns but felt I should, in part because a deal regarding AOL seems imminent, and I felt I should express my views.”
– “… ultimately I think it (the merger) suffered from lack of leadership, including from me. I was hoping that when I stepped down as CEO to facilitate the merger, I could play a constructive role as Chairman, but that didn’t play out the way I expected, frankly. It is hard to push for strategic moves when none of the businesses report to you.”
– “We bought Webcrawler more than a decade ago which was one of the first search engines. It is a shame it didn’t become Google!”
– “I believe an independent AOL would move more quickly and create more value for shareholders. I have been arguing this for some time. The sooner it happens the better.”
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