Time Warner Inc. announced plans to make AOL an independent, publicly traded company. Today, Time Warner owns 95% of AOL, and Google holds the remaining 5%. Time Warner bought AOL in 2001, at the height of the good old Internet Bubble times.
Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said: "We believe that a separation will be the best outcome for both Time Warner and AOL. The separation will be another critical step in the reshaping of Time Warner that we started at the beginning of last year, enabling us to focus to an even greater degree on our core content businesses. The separation will also provide both companies with greater operational and strategic flexibility. We believe AOL will then have a better opportunity to achieve its full potential as a leading independent Internet company."
After the proposed separation is complete, AOL will compete as a standalone company – focused on growing its Web brands and services, which currently reach more than 107 million domestic unique visitors a month, as well as its advertising business, which operates the leading online display network that reaches more than 91% of the domestic online audience. AOL will also continue to operate one of the largest Internet access subscription services in the U.S.
Via this Time Warner announcement.