Dear Steve Case: no more "good ideas," please
Stop worrying about the AOL/Time Warner merger, everyone — Steve Case says he's "sorry". But, according to Reuters, in the same Charlie Rose session that the AOL co-founder apologized for attaching a volatile Internet giant to a previously untoppleable media conglomerate, he said he still believed it was a "good idea."
Okay, look at this chart of Time Warner's stock. See that peak around 2000? That's the buzz over the impending merger with AOL. That drop in 2001 comes as the market realizes what Time Warner's just done, and the rest is just the AOL influence working on the company like a cancer.
By the way, the AOL execs knew their shares were inflated and that this merger might save them. Their deal wiped out $200 billion for shareholders. "Sorry" doesn't exactly do it justice.
AOL founder says he is 'sorry' for Time Warner merger [Reuters]
Chart for TWX [Yahoo Finance]