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TW’s Bewkes dismisses HBO sale

Time Warner (TW) boss Jeff Bewkes has rubbished talk of plans to spin off TW’s lucrative HBO business but suggested he was not against a sale of the US media giant.

Jeff Bewkes

Jeff Bewkes

It emerged earlier this week  that activist shareholders in the firm are considering either an HBO sale or selling Time Warner in its entirety, following a torrid time for the company’s shares.

Bewkes dismissed proposals to spin off HBO – or TW cable business Turner Broadcasting – in comments to investors on Tuesday, according to the New York Post, arguing that scale would become ever more important in competing against the company’s rivals.

He softened, however, when asked about any potential plans to sell TW as a whole, with the Post reporting that Bewkes simply wanted to “increase shareholder value.”

Investors are keen to explore options over the company’s future as it attempts to compete with the likes of global streamers such as Netflix.

TW rejected an US$85 per share offer from Fox in 2014 but has since suffered, along with fellow media giants such as Viacom and Disney, losing around a quarter of its value last year.

The company, which is behind cablenets including Cartoon Network and TNT, said in November that its ratings had dropped. In the same month, it was linked with a move to acquire a stake in Hulu, in a deal that valued the US VoD service at more than US$5bn.

Meanwhile, last week Netflix launched in 130 further countries and is also prepping 600 hours of original content in 2016, including movies from Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow and Angelina Jolie.

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