Icahn spotlights Time Warner spending
Financier says there is "huge waste" at the media company.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Aggressive financier and Time Warner Inc. shareholder Carl Icahn said in comments published Saturday that he plans to call attention to what he considers over-the-top spending at Time Warner in the coming weeks. Icahn told the Wall Street Journal, "there's no question that there's huge waste at the top of Time Warner.... It's like weeds have grown up in a beautiful field." Time Warner is the parent company of CNNMoney.com. Icahn cited the company's New York headquarters, corporate jets and large corporate-support departments as examples of overspending. A Time Warner (Research) spokesperson responded that the spending was similar to that of the company's peers. "This management manages its business aggressively, which extends to its management of costs. Time Warner's corporate overhead as a percentage of revenue is in line with our diversified media industry peers." Icahn, who has allied with three other funds to hold a 3 percent stake in Time Warner, has said he is trying to influence changes at Time Warner to increase shareholder value. In December, Icahn said that Time Warner should be split into four distinct groups: cable, Internet, publishing and a fourth unit that would include movie studios and television networks. |
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