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Turner take aol { September 18 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/19698p-18668c.htmlhttp://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/19698p-18668c.html
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
A case to put Turner on top
Wednesday, September 18th, 2002
With AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case on the ropes, investors are clamoring for the company's outspoken vice chairman, Ted Turner, to be named as his successor.
"I'd neither be surprised nor unhappy to see Ted Turner appointed as chairman," said Mike Pausic, managing director of Maverick Capital, which as of June held 21 million shares of AOL Time Warner stock.
Case is expected to get the boot for orchestrating the failed merger of America Online and Time Warner.
If CNN founder Turner replaced him, he would serve in a largely symbolic role that would "reinvigorate the company," a source said.
Such a move would be the ultimate comeback for the outspoken media bigwig, sidelined by ex-AOL Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin.
Lately Turner has muscled his way back. As an AOL Time Warner board member, he orchestrated Levin's ouster and is said to support Case's dismissal. He has the full support of fellow major AOL Time Warner shareholder John Malone, sources said.
Malone would be Wall Street's top pick for the job. But his investments in competing media and entertainment empires, Liberty Media and Vivendi Universal, prevent him from taking over. Both Malone and Turner have lost billions on AOL Time Warner as the stock has plummeted.
Others dismiss any notion of Turner replacing Case. Uri Landesman, partner in Arlington Capital, said it's far more likely AOL Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons will eventually take the chairman title.
"If you own AOL Time Warner stock, the last thing you want is Ted Turner," said Porter Bibb, managing director of Technology Partners.
Sources said Case is likely to survive Thursday's board meeting, since he still has the support of three directors.
"Nothing will happen on Thursday," said Doug Kass, whose Seabreeze Partners is an AOL Time Warner stockholder. "There is a movement to get rid of him. Within one or two quarters, he will be removed."
Flashier Imax
There will be a red carpet in front of the Loews Imax Theater at 68th and Broadway tonight and director Ron Howard and other celebrities are expected to be on hand for the debut of the first ever Imax version of "Apollo 13."
Large-screen movie operator Imax is going Hollywood in a bid to recapture fans on Wall Street. The movie company that looked like it was about to go bust last year is pegging its revival on a new technology that allows it to reformat standard 35 millimeter film into large scale Imax movies.
Up next: a rerelease of "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" in November. The company best known for nerdy science and educational films, hopes to release two to three big, action-packed Hollywood flicks a year in its 230 Imax theaters around the world.
"We're on somewhat of a roll," Imax co-chairman Richard Gelfond told the Daily News. "We can take any film and make it a real Imax film.
Messier's Mess
Ousted Vivendi Universal boss Jean-Marie Messier's coming up empty in his attempts to score a big payout from the floundering French media giant.
Messier successor Jean-Rene Fourtou is telling people "he's not prepared to give him a single Euro," a media source said.
Messier's shot at nabbing a tidy severance package is rapidly fading, with Vivendi in a tailspin and French investigators probing questionable accounting deals done on his watch.
"He'll be lucky if he's not sued by the shareholders and the company," said James Kaufman, president of James M. Kaufman Capital Advisors.
The outcome of Messier's negotiations with Vivendi could come as soon as next week, when Fourtou sets out his plans for fixing the media empire.
Messier is said to be demanding severance of $20 million. On top of that, he wants Vivendi to pay back a personal loan of $25 million he took out from French bank Societe Generale.
Messier is also looking to remain at his swanky apartment at 515 Park Ave., which Vivendi bought for $17.5 million. For now he's paying $50,000 a month rent on the duplex. He may find a way to keep paying the rent: sources say the former Lazard Freres investment banker is making the rounds of investment firms looking for his next gig.
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