Reuters -Investor Carl Icahn on Tuesday called on Time Warner Inc. to break its empire up into four separate companies, citing a Lazard Ltd. report he commissioned that also recommended stock buybacks totaling about $20 billion.
Icahn also said on Tuesday he has already selected his rival slate of directors to Time Warner’s board and plans to announce them as early as next week. Former Viacom Inc. chief executive Frank Biondi said last week he agreed to be chief executive of the company if Icahn is successful.
A 343-page plan, prepared by the high-profile Lazard investment bank led by Bruce Wasserstein, recommended that the world’s largest media company — which owns AOL, the Warner Brothers studio, Time Inc. magazines, HBO and CNN — be split into four publicly traded companies: the AOL online division, a film and cable networks company, a publishing company and a cable operator.
The plan also called for slashing corporate expenses by cutting jobs, combining operations and streamlining overhead.
Time Warner, for its part, said it would review the Lazard report, but repeated that it believes the company is on the right track. “Our board and management regularly review all of the strategic options for managing this company,” the company said in a statement. “We are on the right path. The company is delivering.”
