Effective Jan. 1, 2008, Jeff Bewkes, now president and COO, will be CEO of Time Warner. Dick Parsons will remain chairman of the board. The move has been anticipated for weeks; once Bewkes outlasted Don Logan two years ago, really only the timing was uncertain. Bewkes will retain the title of president. Robert C. Clark, the board member who chairs the nominating committee, said the process began in early 2006 when Parsons asked the board to consider the succession timetable. Release.
Update: Jeff Bewkes has played a pivotal role in Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) strategy over the past few years but he’s going to get a chance to pass go and collect a lot more than $200 despite the stagnant financials. Why? Because no matter what he has championed or backed in his tenure at Dick Parson’s side, he did not have final say. More important to some — he comes from within Time Warner but was not part of the AOL merger drama or the woes that followed. Bewkes is perceived as unsentimental, an operator — in the COO sense of the word. If Bewkes opts to hold onto AOL or chooses not to spin off Time Inc., he won’t be accused, as Parsons has been repeatedly, of hanging on for sentimental reasons. (I’ve never thought of Parsons as sentimental beyond pragmatism; charming, yes, diplomatic … but anyone who can translate the layoffs and changes of the past few years into sentimentality has a different dictionary than I do.) Then again, don’t make a heavy bet with anyone who expects Time Warner to look like it does now in 2009 or even this time next year.
NYT: “Mr. Bewkes, who has a reputation for being less attached to history and more deeply immersed in the challenges facing his company
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