Welcome to another episode of “As The Worm Turns” wherein Steve Case wakes up one day and decides the last few years were a big mistake. Unfortunately, this isn’t “Dallas” and the intervening time can’t be written off as a bad dream. … It might be news to us but major shareholder Case says in a high-profile piece in Sunday’s Washington Post that no one on the Time Warner board, where he served as chairman through May 2003 and then as a member until resigning in October, will be surprised by his suggestion that the merger has been bad for AOL and that the internet company should be set free.
In fact, writes Case, this past July he proposed breaking the company “into four freestanding companies — Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Entertainment, Time Inc. and AOL — each with its own strategy, stock, balance sheet, management team and board.” Case offers the success of Warner Music Group since it was sold as a rather interesting example of potential spin-off benefits.
This is similar to a plan being floated by agitator Carl Icahn and his group, although Case says he has never spoken to Icahn or his advisors. Of course, Case sounds a tad more fervent about the potential for AOL as a standalone company; he thinks it can be the next Apple. (Insert your own punch line here.) But to do so, he argues, AOL “must be freed from its corporate shackles and return to its entrepreneurial roots, identifying ideas early and promoting their widespread acceptance.”
If you’re looking for any hint that Case bears some responsibility for locking AOL in those “corporate shackles” don’t click on the link. Ditto for a round figure on the money he made off the merger. Maybe those issues will come up Monday, when Case takes part in a live discussion at 11 a.m. on WashingtonPost.com.
React to this piece is flying fast and furious:
– Susan Mernit takes Case’s arguments point by point, agreeing at times but saying ultimately an AOL spin-off with the same management won’t work.
– Om Malik, a Time Warner employee, is merciless: “Mr. Case, if he wants us to take him seriously should start by returning the profits from the ‘worst merger ever.'”
– Cynthia Brumfield picks up on the revisionist history that lays responsibility on TW: “For at least a good year following the merger, the AOL-ites were calling the shots at the merged company and none too smartly either.”
Related: @ Media Week: Parsons: Really. AOL Is Not For Sale; Creative Answer Needed For A La Carte
– Icahn Group Wants To Split Time Warner Into Four
– Industry Moves: Steve Case Leaves Time Warner Board
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