Should AOL-TW Demerge?
from the one-opinion dept
The Knowledge@Wharton folks have stacked up a bunch of professors who are kicking AOL-Time Warner while they’re down. They talk about how big media mergers are generally bad, and AOL-TW was a mistake. One even says the two companies should split apart again. I think it’s easy to trash mergers that don’t look successful, but that doesn’t mean that the merger itself wasn’t a good idea in the first place. I still think AOL-TW is a perfect example of a good idea with absolutely terrible execution. These days it’s hip to make fun of the concept of “synergy”, but it can exist – it just requires management who can actually take advantage of it.
