At Time Warner, business as usual, and thats not a good thing

-RYAN Its easy to lay some of the blame for the trouble many companies are facing these days on the current economic climate . The media industry has been hit hard and some of the media industry's top guns are having to make drastic decisions to keep their heads above the rising water. Sumner Redstone, was forced to sell off shares of his companies and there is still talk that he may unload CBS to save Viacom. One of the companies suffering even more now is Time Warner, and we won't let Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes use the economy as a fucking crutch. However, we have to be fair and throw the blame as far back as on the lap of then CEO Dick Parsons. Mr. Parsons, credited with reducing the company's debt after the value killing merger with AOL, has only that under his belt and knowing about wine. Parsons was hell bent on the outdated notion that bigger is better and never made any real moves to put Time Warner on a diet. When time came for him to hand over the keys to his number two Jeff Bewkes, many waited, anxiously for change believing Bewkes would come in and shake things up instantly. But Bewkes is approaching his one year anniversary as CEO and he hasn't done anything worth writing about. Whats worth writing about is what he hasn't done. Bewkes like Parsons for some reason, is hesitant to pull the trigger on a major restructuring that is way overdue at Time Warner. The company is obese and needs to lose weight fast. Earlier when he took office there was talk that there was interest to sell or spin off AOL but Bewkes put that to bed during an interview. When Bewkes was taking control at Time Warner back on January 1st, there was another man by the name of Hartmut Ostrowski taking control overseas at then German media giant Bertelsmann AG. Like Bewkes, Hartmut Ostrowski was taking over a major media company promising major changes to firm up their companies. Well, Ostrowski delivered on his promise for the most part. In no time the new CEO sold off businesses (50% stake in Sony-BMG) that no longer fit within his vision for the company, laid off thousands and is still looking to cut where he can. We can't really come up with anything that Bewkes has done to help set Time Warner on a new path. Wait....Oh yeah he folded New Line into the bigger Warner Bros. Studios, and announced plans to sell off AOL's stone age dial up business. Its as if Bewkes is afraid to take the heat if changes he probably does want to implement, fails. Time Inc is still going through an identity crisis and among other ailments, AOL is still a tumor that seems to get worst every quarter. Some will argue 10 months on the job isn't long enough to whip the overweight adult that is Time Warner into shape. OK that may have some truth to it, but we think 10 months is enough to at least set the company on a new path to new success.