There are no plans for an IPO or tracking stock for HBO, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes asserted Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference.
Bewkes said that after years of hard work getting Time Warner reduced to a three-part core — HBO, Turner and Warner Brothers — he didn’t want to mess with the plan.
It’s “not hard to look at Time Warner today and see its value.” Bewkes asserted, saying he would soon lead an education offensive to get the word out on Wall Street.
“The burden is on us to communicate every part of the company,” Bewkes told the investor-packed audience. “That’s why I’m here.”
Much of that same audience, meanwhile, was there to hear what Time Warner’s boss had to say about spurning a rich take-over offer last summer from 21st Century Fox.
And on that, Bewkes also delivered: “We studied it and took it very seriously,” he said.
In the end, it was determined that integrating Time Warner into Fox would be such a “large undertaking” that shareholders on both sides would be exposed to incredible and unnecessary risks, Bewkes said.
Separately, Sony, too, is standing pat and not looking to sell or spin-off one of its crown jewels: Sony Entertainment.
Despite speculation thoughout the media world and Wall Street, such a move is not being considered, according to Michael Lynton, CEO of the entertainment unit, which include TV, film, music, video and gaming operations.
“Nothing’s in the cards,” he said after giving an overview of the business at confab. After his unit was streamlined by Sony Corp. boss Kazuo Hirai, things are looking up Lynton said.
Of all sectors he oversees, Lynton seemed most bullish on music.
“The future of music is actually very, very bright right now,” he said.“We really want the subscription model to thrive,” he said.
