NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The board of AOL Time Warner took no action to remove Stephen Case as chairman Thursday despite demands to oust the last top America Online executive working for the struggling media powerhouse.
The subject of Case, who used America Online's once-soaring stock price to buy Time Warner more than two years ago, was not on the agenda at the company's New York board meeting that wrapped up at about 5:30 p.m. ET, a company spokesman said.
"The board is comfortable with the leadership of the company," AOL Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons told CNNfn correspondent Greg Clarkin.
Critics of Case say he is responsible for AOL's accounting problems, the stock's disappointing performance, and a lack of credibility on Wall Street, while supporters say he was too distant from the company to be held accountable for these problems.
Few expected the departure of Case, who played a key role in the 2001 merger of AOL and Time Warner, a deal that cost investors billions of dollars.
The New York Times Thursday reported that several large shareholders from the Time Warner side -- including Ted Turner, John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, and Gordon Crawford, portfolio manager with Capital Research and Management -- would like to see Case leave the company.
But Case still maintains the support of the company's Parsons, who values Case for his input and partly for the stability he brings to the executive ranks, which have seen extensive turnover since the merger, according to the Times.
"Steve Case is the chairman of the board and will be so after the meeting," said AOL Time Warner spokesman Edward Adler before the meeting. "All other discussion is just rumor and speculation."
Shares of AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates), the parent company of CNN/Money, fell 56 cents to $12.27 Thursday.
AOL Time Warner Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman quit in July, two months after Parsons formally took the helm from Gerald Levin, whose tenure, like Case's, coincided with a steep drop in the company's stock.
Pittman, who came from the AOL side of the company, had been widely associated with lofty promises for growth that were made to investors shortly after the merger was announced in 2000.
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