AOL to go it alone as Time Warner casts it off

Media giant Time Warner announced Thursday morning that it will cast off its AOL division to become a standalone company.

Before that separation can take place, Time Warner will buy the five per cent of AOL owned by Google so that it will have 100 per cent control of AOL. Time Warner expects the transaction with Google to take place in the third quarter and the final AOL spinoff around the end of the year.

As an independent, publicly traded company, AOL will focus on growing its web brands and services, as well as its advertising business, according to Time Warner.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said in a statement: "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."

Original article: Time Warner to spin off AOL from CNET News.com