Gerald Levin, known to many as Jerry, wasnt flamboyant.
Michael Eisner was not a founder but a big personality.
Bob Iger has been called a CEO out of central casting.
Gerald Levin, former CEO of Time WarnerMichael Smith/Getty Images
Jerry Levinwas not your central casting CEO, noted one Wall Streeter.
The combination was a daring bet on the future.
He realized that the internet was the future of media.
(L-R) AOL chairman Steve Case and Time Warner chief Gerald Levin in January 2000 announcing the companies’ $350 billion mergerGetty Images
Worlds had collided, the message said.
Watch on Deadline
All of the image-managing and blue-skying would be for naught.
The deal became a disaster, destroying billions of dollars of shareholder value and vaporizing employee stock options.
In hindsight, the deal, which was conceived in 2000 and closed in early 2001, was ill-timed.
Valuations had exploded, which explains why AOL at the time was worth more than Time Warner.
Its never clear exactly when a bubble will pop.
Investors decided to overlook all the red ink, predicting dotcoms would upend all business sectors, especially media.
They kept piling into all kinds of companies until eventually the music stopped.
In March 2000, the Nasdaq peaked.
There was a recession in Japan.
Capital stopped flowing, and profitability became key (again an eerie precursor of the streaming era).
Consumers also started moving from dial-up to broadband.
Operationally, the merger also wasnt really given a chance.
So it couldnt grow, only shrink.
Lawsuits ensued, then layoffs and a revolving door in the executive suite.
Levin ended up stepping down in 2002.
Case, who founded AOL and served as chairman of AOL Time Warner, exited in 2003.
Richard Parsons ran the company as CEO through 2007.
Jeff Bewkes took the helm after Parsons, and the merger was officially unwound in 2009.
One media business observer recalling Levins legacy described him as thoughtful.
He saw media companies needed digital companies.
He recalled a realization he had upon waking up one morning.
I got up and said, Im 63, I have no belief system.
Where am I going?
Whats eventually going to happen?
