NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ted Turner, AOL Time Warner Inc.'s vice chairman and largest individual shareholder, sold nearly $5 million worth of the company's shares this week on top of the 10 million shares he sold late last month, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.

The sales come after a drop in AOL's stock of about 40 percent since the beginning of the year as the Internet and media titan struggles to revive growth at its online unit.

Shares of AOL Time Warner (AOL: up $0.05 to $16.55, Research, Estimates) closed down 3.5 percent, or 60 cents, at $16.50 on Thursday, hitting a new three-year low. AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN/Money.

Turner's most recent sale of 253,908 AOL shares was part of his program, which began in May, to sell $5 million worth of AOL stock each month to fulfill his philanthropic obligations and to ensure environmental maintenance of his 2 million acres of land, AOL Time Warner spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said.

Turner enrolled in the program in order to be able to "properly ensure the stewardship of his vast property holdings as well as his many philanthropic obligations," Primrose told CNNfn.

As of Dec. 31, 2001, Turner held 150 million shares, or about 3.6 percent of the world's largest Internet and media company, according to the company's most recent proxy statement. The value of Turner's holdings has dropped along with a 70 percent slide in the company's stock since the merger of AOL and Time Warner was announced in 2000.

Turner remains strongly committed to AOL Time Warner and looks forward to working closely with the board, Primrose told CNNfn. "Mr. Parsons, AOLTW CEO, views Ted as a key member of the management team."

But Turner, the originator of 24-hour news network CNN, has not hidden his disappointment with former Chief Executive Gerald Levin or the company's stock performance.

Turner, often called the "mouth from the South," told cable executives last November that he felt sidelined by AOL Time Warner when he was replaced in January 2001 as head of Turner Broadcasting systems.

Richard Parsons, who succeeded Levin as CEO, played a large role in persudading Turner to renew his contract as a vice chairman at AOL Time Warner late last year.

AOL Time Warner's top management has seen a spate of reshuffling in recent months, beginning last November when Turner Broadcasting's Wayne Pace was named to replace Mike Kelly as the company's chief financial officer. Kelly was named chief operating officer of the AOL unit.

Then came the surprise news that Levin, one of the key architects of the $106.2 billion AOL Time Warner merger, was retiring.

Parsons, Levin's top deputy at Time Warner, was named to fill his shoes. Some had expected AOL Time Warner Chief Operating Officer Bob Pittman, who came up through the ranks via AOL, to take the helm. The decision sparked speculation that Pittman might depart at that time, but Pittman said he was staying put.

Primrose Thursday dismissed a report on Internet columnist Matt Drudge's Web site that said Walt Disney Co. (DIS: Research, Estimates) was eyeing Pittman to possibly replace Disney head Michael Eisner.

A Disney spokeswoman strongly denied the report.

Under Parsons, Pittman has been dispatched to get the AOL unit back to basics and restore growth after struggling with an anemic advertising climate, a slowdown in dial-up Internet subscribers, and slow migration of its members to high-speed Internet services. Investors are watching closely to see if he will succeed.

At Disney, Eisner has come under fire for betting big on the Internet in the late 1990s in an effort that ultimately fizzled. Eisner also has come under criticism more recently for the weak performance at Disney's ABC television network, which went from No. 1 among the nation's top three networks two years ago to No. 3 in the current season.  

-- from staff and wire reports