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CNet: Just another hype-based news outlet

CNet reports on the announcement by AOL Time Warner that CEO Gerald Levin is retiring and will be replaced by co-COO Richard Parsons. Unfortunately, I see they are trying to make something significant out of this announcement where there really is none and it’s just sad. “Richard Parsons’ ascension to the chief executive throne of AOL Time Warner shows how fast and hard the fortunes of the new-media revolution have fallen.” Yeah and let’s look a little closer. First, three facts:

  • Levin and Parsons were the two top officers at Time Warner prior to the merger;
  • Levin has wanted to retire for awhile, ever since his son was murdered; and,
  • Bob Pittman, the other co-COO, is more interested in running the company than being a face for the outside and all the operating divisions will be reporting to Pittman.

    Second, I’ll bet real money that the AOL-Time Warner merger deal included a provision for this order of succession both to keep Parsons happy and onboard and also to reassure other TW managers that they had a future with the new company. Third, the CNet analysis completely ignores the fact that Steve Case is still chairman and Pittman has all the ops reporting to him. The article mentions that industry pundits expected AOL to “clean house” after the merger but they were too quick to forget that Pittman used to be an important Time Warner executive before joining AOL and has strong connections there. Conclusion: CNet, ease back on the hype!