Really good piece by Peter Argenti in this Globe this am on the anticipated name change. Some snippets:
“…But since the company reported a US record $98.9 billion net loss last year — and became mired in multiple federal investigations of aggressive AOL accounting for advertising deals — the AOL name has come to be seen as a millstone dragging down what remain generally strong and growing Time Warner movie, magazine, music, news, and cable television operations. The company’s stock has fallen 66 percent since the merger closed in January 2001. Their reputations battered, Case and Levin have stepped down.
The AOL Net access service, which has lost more than 1 million US subscribers in the last year, now represents barely 20 percent of the company’s revenues and 17 percent of its net income. Few “synergies” expected from delivering Time Warner content over AOL “pipes” have emerged. Nor has AOL been able to develop any major new service for Time Warner Cable high-speed modem subscribers to fend off its own losses of dial-up Net customers. Some investors and industry analysts have even proposed the company undo the merger and spin off AOL as a stand-alone company.”