AOL downgraded to 'negative'

NEWS A miserable month for AOL Time Warner is unlikely to end on an upbeat note after credit ratings agency firm, Standard & Poor's, confirmed it was downgrading the media company's status from 'stable' to 'negative'. The downgrade was attributed to the poor performance of its America Online unit that runs cable channels CNN and HBO as well as People and Sports Illustrated magazines. AOL Time Warner has been plagued by problems during July. Bob Pittman, CEO of AOL, stepped down two weeks ago. Soon it emerged that the company's accounts were being investigated by the US financial regulators. The month got off to a decent start when AOL Time Warner secured $10bn in funding from a banking consortium.