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Turner levin aol { June 4 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://webcenter.newssearch.netscape.com/aolns_display.adp?key=200206031502000296408_aolns.src http://webcenter.newssearch.netscape.com/aolns_display.adp?key=200206031502000296408_aolns.src Tuesday, June 4, 2002 Turner Reportedly Sparked Exit of AOL Time Warner CEO LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An outburst of anger by media mogul Ted Turner, the largest individual shareholder in AOL Time Warner Inc., was instrumental in ousting Gerald Levin as the company's chief executive, Vanity Fair magazine reported on Monday in its new issue. Contrary to the public impression that he retired in May of his own accord, Levin was forced out as a result of a verbal attack leveled by Turner during a board meeting in the fall of 2001, the magazine said, quoting an unnamed insider with knowledge of the meeting. Representatives of AOL Time Warner were not immediately available for comment. Vanity Fair said Levin and Turner had declined interview requests for the article. According to an account by Vanity Fair contributing editor Nina Munk, Turner, the company's vice chairman, banged his fist on the table and yelled, accusing Levin of personally destroying AOL Time Warner, demoralizing employees and encouraging rivalry between its AOL and Time Warner divisions. Turner, 63, also was reported to have reminded the board that the company's share price had declined by half in just four months. As of last January, Turner held a 3.47 percent stake in the media giant. Vanity Fair said Turner's outburst was followed by silence, and none of the board members present, not even Levin himself, rose to his defense. The unidentified insider with knowledge of the incident told Munk that after a brief pause, the meeting continued as though nothing unusual had occurred, but that Turner's assault was a "shocking" turning point. "It was like realizing the emperor has no clothes," the source told Munk. According to the magazine, "Turner's direct attack on Levin that day forced AOL Time Warner's board of directors to see the obvious: Levin had to be replaced, fast." After gathering his lieutenants in November to plan a graceful exit for the CEO, AOL Time Warner Chairman Steve Case confronted Levin privately and told him, "This just isn't working," and Levin apparently agreed, the magazine reported. GONE A MONTH LATER The following month, Levin, then 62, made his surprise announcement that he was retiring in May of this year, citing his desire to pursue "moral and social issues" that he felt strongly about and saying that the Sept. 11 attacks had renewed the grief he suffered from the murder of his schoolteacher son in 1997. Later in December, AOL Time Warner said Turner had renewed his contract as vice chairman of the company after Levin's replacement, Chief Executive-designate Richard Parsons, asked him to stay on. In November, Turner had spoken bitterly at a luncheon of cable TV executives in Anaheim, California, about having felt sidelined at AOL-Time Warner when he was replaced in January 2001 as head of Turner Broadcasting Systems. "I never thought I'd get prematurely retired," he said then. According to Vanity Fair, Levin's ouster came amid an environment of open hostility between the two wings of the company -- with AOL loyalists regarding Time Warner employees as uncooperative, while Time Warner executives described AOL devotees as "Moonies" and "inexperienced."

100b losses { January 29 2003 } Accounting appropriate { July 18 2002 } Aol boss sold shares Aol discloses sec probe { July 25 2002 } Aol exec Aol hard to cancel { September 24 2003 } Aol losses 1m subscribers { June 4 2003 } Aol plans big cuts { January 10 2003 } Aol probe continues { March 29 2003 } Aol purchasepro fool investors { September 24 2003 } Aol subscribers down 846 000 { July 24 2003 } Aol time warner eliminate aol from name Aol tw blackhole { April 29 2002 } Aol tw sells 2bil Case quits { January 13 2003 } Crimimal probe { August 1 2002 } End of 2004 loses 646 thousand subscribers { December 7 2004 } Fbi continues aol probe Justice investigates aol Levin aol More sec probing { April 22 2003 } Oust case { September 17 2002 } Profits to plunge Steve case showdown { July 21 2002 } Time warner drops aol name { October 13 2003 } Turner fights case Turner levin aol { June 4 2002 } Turner retired Turner sold 5m { February 7 2003 } Turner take aol { September 18 2002 } Turner un { November 20 2001 } Unconventional { July 18 2002 } Wheres steve case { July 19 2002 } Wont rebound till 2004 { December 4 2002 } Files Listed: 34

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