New York, Sept 18: The board of AOL Time Warner on Thursday voted to remove AOL from its name, a sign of the decline of the company's online unit and the failure of its attempt to unite old and new media. Chief Executive Richard Parsons said the move would reflect the company's portfolio of businesses and end any confusion of the company's online unit, America Online, with the company as a whole.
The company said the change will be completed in the next few weeks. When it is, the company's stock will trade under Time Warner's old "TWX" ticker on the New York Stock Exchange, instead of "AOL."
America Online bought Time Warner for $112 billion in 2001 in the biggest merger in history. Since then, the value of the online division has plunged and the combined company has failed to live up to promises to transform the media industry.
While the latest move has few implications for its business, analysts greeted it as step toward erasing the memory of the merger.
"The name reminds people of a mistake," said Hal Vogel of Vogel Capital Management, before the company's official statement was released. "AOL is now being recognized as a division and not a leading part of the company."
Since the merger, the online unit has been the subject of probes into its accounting practices.
Discussions of a name change came to light after AOL founder Steve Case resigned as chairman of the company in January. Case remains on the board of the directors. Bureau Report