November 5, 2007
To: Time Warner Colleagues
From: Dick Parsons
Subject: Jeff Bewkes Named CEO as of January 1, 2008
I am delighted to let you know that, earlier today, the Board of Directors elected Jeff Bewkes as Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner, effective January 1, 2008.
Jeff is, quite simply, the best person I could imagine to lead Time Warner. As anyone who has worked with Jeff knows, he is a leader of remarkable intelligence, integrity, energy, and business acumen. He is also a truly decent individual, with a good sense of humor and a great sense of humanity. As CEO, Jeff will bring not only a deep knowledge of our businesses, but also an unmatched understanding of the opportunities ahead for the media industry. He will be a terrific CEO.
I am also proud of what we have accomplished over the past five years to strengthen this company. We stabilized our company during some difficult and challenging times, restored our company’s reputation, consistently met or exceeded our financial goals, streamlined and strengthened our portfolio of businesses, and continued to set the standard for quality, creativity, and journalistic integrity in the media business. At the same time, we made investments to transition our businesses to a more digital, diverse, and global media environment. We invested in the people who work for this company and have made real progress in building a workforce that has the skills and diversity of backgrounds and perspectives to ensure that the company succeeds in the coming years. And, not least, we also worked hard to live up to this company’s broader mission of serving the public interest.
We still, of course, have a lot of work ahead of us. The pace of change is accelerating in the media industry. That means that our company’s strategy will also need to continue to evolve in order to take advantage of the growth opportunities that lie ahead and to deliver superior value for our stockholders.
While I’ll step down as CEO at the end of this year, I’ll remain as Chairman of the Board. Although I’m sure that there will be more opportunities for Jeff and me to communicate with you during the coming months, we thought that it would be a good idea to put together a brief video to share our initial thoughts with you. Kindly click here if you’d like to watch the video or here to read the press release we issued today on Jeff’s appointment.
Please join me in offering congratulations and support to Jeff on his election as CEO of this company. Many thanks.