MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION
INTRODUCTION
Management's discussion and analysis of results of operations and financial
condition ("MD&A") is a supplement to the accompanying consolidated financial
statements and provides additional information on Time Warner Inc.'s ("Time
Warner" or the "Company") businesses, current developments, financial condition,
cash flows and results of operations. MD&A is organized as follows:
• Overview. This section provides a general description of Time Warner's
business segments, as well as recent developments the Company believes are
important in understanding the results of operations and financial condition
or in understanding anticipated future trends.
• Results of operations. This section provides an analysis of the Company's
results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2009. This
analysis is presented on both a consolidated and a business segment basis.
In addition, a brief description is provided of significant transactions and
events that affect the comparability of the results being analyzed.
• Financial condition and liquidity. This section provides an analysis of the
Company's financial condition as of June 30, 2009 and cash flows for the six
months ended June 30, 2009.
• Caution concerning forward-looking statements. This section provides a
description of the use of forward-looking information appearing in this
report, including in MD&A and the consolidated financial statements. Such
information is based on management's current expectations about future
events, which are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in
circumstances. Refer to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2008 (the "2008 Form 10-K"), as well as Item 1A,
"Risk Factors," in Part II of this report, for a discussion of the risk
factors applicable to the Company.
On March 12, 2009, the Company completed the legal and structural separation
of Time Warner Cable Inc. ("TWC") from the Company. With the completion of the
separation, the Company disposed of the Cable segment in its entirety and ceased
to consolidate the financial condition and results of operations of TWC in its
consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, the Company has presented the
financial condition and results of operations of the Cable segment as
discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements
for all periods presented.
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MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION - (Continued)
OVERVIEW
Time Warner is a leading media and entertainment company, whose major
businesses encompass an array of the most respected and successful media brands.
Among the Company's brands are HBO, TNT, CNN, AOL, People, Sports Illustrated
and Time. The Company produces and distributes films through Warner Bros. and
New Line Cinema, including The Hangover, The Dark Knight, Gran Torino and the
Harry Potter films, as well as television series, including Two and a Half Men,
The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory, Gossip Girl and The Closer. During the six
months ended June 30, 2009, the Company generated revenues of $13.754 billion
(down 8% from $14.939 billion in 2008), Operating Income of $2.381 billion (down
5% from $2.518 billion in 2008), Net Income of $1.180 billion (down 25% from
$1.563 billion in 2008) and Cash Provided by Operations from Continuing
Operations of $2.128 billion (down 12% from $2.411 billion in 2008).
Impact of the Current Economic Environment
The current global economic recession has reduced the Company's visibility
into long-term business trends and has adversely affected its businesses in the
first half of 2009 and is currently expected to continue to adversely affect
them during the remainder of 2009. For example, during the first half of 2009,
the Company's Advertising revenues declined 15% compared to the similar period
in the prior year. The Company currently expects Advertising revenues to
continue to decline during the remainder of 2009 as compared to the similar
period in 2008. Additionally, the current economic environment is adversely
affecting the Company's Content revenues due to, among other things, reduced
consumer spending on DVDs.
The significant losses in the market value of the Company's pension plan
assets in 2008 have resulted in an increase in pension expense of approximately
$40 million and $70 million, respectively, for the three and six months ended
June 30, 2009 and are expected to result in an approximately $140 million
increase in pension expense for the full year of 2009. Additionally, the
strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to significant foreign currencies to
which the Company is exposed has negatively affected the Company's revenues and
Operating Income by approximately $200 million and $30 million, respectively,
for the three months ended June 30, 2009 and approximately $440 million and
$100 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30, 2009. If exchange
rates remain at levels similar to those in the first half of 2009, the Company
expects a continued negative impact on revenues and Operating Income during the
remainder of 2009.
The Company continues to have strong liquidity to meet its needs for the
foreseeable future. At June 30, 2009, the Company had $13.921 billion of unused
committed capacity, including cash and equivalents and credit facilities
containing commitments from a geographically diverse group of major financial
institutions. See "Financial Condition and Liquidity" for further details
regarding the Company's total committed borrowing capacity.
Time Warner Businesses
Time Warner classifies its operations into four reportable segments:
Networks, Filmed Entertainment, Publishing and AOL.
Time Warner evaluates the performance and operational strength of its
business segments based on several factors, of which the primary financial
measure is operating income before depreciation of tangible assets and
amortization of intangible assets ("Operating Income before Depreciation and
Amortization"). Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization eliminates
the uneven effects across all business segments of noncash depreciation of
tangible assets and amortization of certain intangible assets, primarily
intangible assets recognized in business combinations. Operating Income before
Depreciation and Amortization should be considered in addition to Operating
Income, as well as other measures of financial performance. Accordingly, the
discussion of the results of operations for each of Time Warner's business
segments includes both Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization and
Operating Income. For additional information regarding Time Warner's business
segments, refer to Note 11, "Segment Information."
Networks. Time Warner's Networks segment is comprised of Turner Broadcasting
System, Inc. ("Turner") and Home Box Office, Inc. ("HBO"). For the six months
ended June 30, 2009, the Networks segment generated revenues of $5.771 billion
(42% of the Company's overall revenues), $2.045 billion in Operating Income
before Depreciation and
TIME WARNER INC.
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION - (Continued)
Amortization and $1.835 billion in Operating Income.
The Turner networks - including such recognized brands as TNT, TBS, CNN,
Cartoon Network, truTV and HLN (formerly CNN Headline News) - are among the
leaders in advertising-supported cable TV networks. For seven consecutive years,
more primetime households have watched advertising-supported cable TV networks
than the national broadcast networks. The Turner networks generate revenues
principally from receipt of monthly subscriber fees paid by cable system
operators, satellite distribution services, telephone companies and other
distributors and from the sale of advertising. Key contributors to Turner's
success are its continued investments in high-quality programming focused on
sports, original and syndicated series, news, network movie premieres and
animation leading to strong ratings and revenue growth, as well as strong brands
and operating efficiencies. For the remainder of 2009, the Company anticipates
that the difficult economic environment will continue to adversely affect
Advertising revenues at Turner compared to the similar period in 2008.
HBO operates the HBO and Cinemax multichannel premium pay television
programming services, with the HBO service ranking as the nation's most widely
distributed premium pay television service. HBO generates revenues principally
from monthly subscriber fees from cable system operators, satellite distribution
services, telephone companies and other distributors. An additional source of
revenues is the sale of its original programming, including Sex and the City,
The Sopranos, Entourage, True Blood and Rome.
The Company's Networks segment recently has focused on international
expansion, including Turner's fourth quarter 2007 acquisition of seven pay
networks operating principally in Latin America and HBO's acquisitions of
additional equity interests in HBO Asia and HBO South Asia during the fourth
quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008, as well as the acquisition of an
additional equity interest in the HBO Latin America Group, consisting of HBO
Brasil, HBO Olé and HBO Latin America Production Services (collectively, "HBO
LAG"), during the fourth quarter of 2008. These acquired businesses contributed
revenues and Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization of
$245 million and $66 million, respectively, for the six months ended June 30,
2009 compared to $71 million and $7 million, respectively, for the six months
ended June 30, 2008. In addition, during 2008 and the first half of 2009, Turner
expanded its presence in Turkey, Germany, Korea and India. The Company
anticipates that international expansion will continue to be an area of focus at
the Networks segment for the foreseeable future.
Filmed Entertainment. Time Warner's Filmed Entertainment segment is comprised
of Warner Bros. Entertainment Group ("Warner Bros."), one of the world's leading
studios, and New Line Cinema Corporation ("New Line"). For the six months ended
June 30, 2009, the Filmed Entertainment segment generated revenues of
$4.966 billion (34% of the Company's overall revenues), $538 million in
Operating Income before Depreciation and Amortization and $357 million in
Operating Income.
The Filmed Entertainment segment has diversified sources of revenues within
its film and television businesses, including an extensive film library and a
global distribution infrastructure, which have helped it to deliver consistent
long-term operating performance. To increase operational efficiencies and
maximize performance within the Filmed Entertainment segment, in 2008 the
Company reorganized the New Line business to be operated as a unit of Warner
Bros. while maintaining separate development, production and other operations,
and the Company incurred restructuring charges primarily related to involuntary
employee terminations in connection with the reorganization. Beginning in the
first quarter of 2009, Warner Bros. commenced a significant restructuring,
primarily consisting of headcount reductions and the outsourcing of certain
functions to an external service provider. As a result, the Company incurred
restructuring charges of $31 million and $68 million during the three and six
months ended June 30, 2009, respectively, and expects to incur additional
restructuring charges of approximately $25 million during the remainder of 2009.
Warner Bros. continues to be an industry leader in the television business.
For the 2008-2009 broadcast season, Warner Bros. produced more than 20 primetime
series, with at least one series airing on each of the five broadcast networks
(including Two and a Half Men, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory, Gossip Girl,
ER and Smallville), as well as original series for several cable networks
(including The Closer and Nip/Tuck). In addition, for the 2009-2010 broadcast
season, Warner Bros. expects to produce more than 25 primetime series.
TIME WARNER INC.
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION - (Continued)
The Screen Actors Guild ("SAG"), which covers performers in feature films and
filmed television programs and the producers of such content including the
Company's Filmed Entertainment and Networks segments, recently ratified a new
collective bargaining agreement, which became effective on June 10, 2009 and
expires on June 30, 2011.
The sale of DVDs has been one of the largest drivers of the segment's profit
over the last several years. The industry and the Company experienced a decline
in DVD sales in 2008 and the first half of 2009 as growing consumer interest in
high definition Blu-ray DVDs and the effect of increased electronic delivery
only partially offset softening consumer demand for standard definition DVDs.
Also contributing to the overall decline in DVD sales are several factors,
including the general economic downturn in the U.S. and many regions around the
world, increasing competition for consumer discretionary time and spending,
piracy and the maturation of the standard definition DVD format.
Piracy, including physical piracy as well as illegal online file-sharing,
continues to be a significant issue for the filmed entertainment industry. Due
to technological advances, piracy has expanded from music to movies, television
programming and interactive games. The Company has taken a variety of actions to
combat piracy over the last several years, including the launch of new services
for consumers at competitive price points, aggressive online and customs
enforcement, compressed release windows and educational campaigns, and will
continue to do so, both individually and together with cross-industry groups,
trade associations and strategic partners.
The Company enters into co-financing arrangements with other companies as a
way of securing funding for its films and mitigating risk. During 2008, one of
the Company's largest co-financing partners informed the Company that
difficulties in the credit markets had led to a delay in securing the financing
necessary to fund the partner's 50% share (approximately $100 million) of the
production costs on four films released during the second half of 2008. As a
result, the Company accounted for these four films as if they were wholly owned.
During the second quarter of 2009, this co-financing partner secured the
necessary financing and funded its share of the 2008 production costs.
Additionally, the co-financing partner has indicated that it intends to provide
funding for up to five films to be released theatrically during 2009 and 2010.
In connection with the co-financing partner's securing of financing, the Company
agreed to advance the partner, in 2013, a percentage of the net present value of
estimated future profit participations owed to the partner on all films
co-financed with this partner through 2010. The delay in the partner's funding
of its share of the 2008 production costs did not have a significant impact on
the Company's results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30,
2009.
Publishing. Time Warner's Publishing segment consists principally of magazine
publishing and related websites as well as a number of direct-marketing and
direct-selling businesses. For the six months ended June 30, 2009, the
Publishing segment generated revenues of $1.721 billion (12% of the Company's
overall revenues), $156 million in Operating Income before Depreciation and
Amortization and $70 million in Operating Income.
As of June 30, 2009, Time Inc. published 23 magazines in the U.S., including
People, Sports Illustrated, Time, InStyle, Real Simple, Southern Living and
Fortune, and over 90 magazines outside the U.S., primarily through IPC Media
("IPC") in the U.K. and Grupo Editorial Expansión ("GEE") in Mexico. The
Publishing segment generates revenues primarily from advertising (including
advertising on digital properties), magazine subscriptions and newsstand sales.
Time Inc. also owns the magazine subscription marketer, Synapse Group, Inc.
("Synapse"), and the school and youth group fundraising company QSP, Inc. and
its Canadian affiliate, Quality Service Programs Inc. (collectively, "QSP").
Advertising sales at the Publishing segment, particularly print advertising
sales, continue to be significantly adversely affected by the current economic
environment as evidenced by their continuing decline during the first half of
2009. Online advertising sales at the Publishing segment have also been
adversely affected by the current economic environment, although, on a
percentage basis, to a lesser degree than print advertising sales. Time Inc.
continues to develop digital content, including the relaunch of RealSimple.com
and the expansion of People.com and Time.com, as well as the expansion of
digital properties owned by IPC and GEE. Online Advertising revenues were 12% of
Time Inc.'s total Advertising revenues for both the three and six months ended
June 30, 2009 compared to 9% for both the three and six months ended June 30,
2008. On July 16, 2009, Time Inc. completed the sale of its direct-selling
division, Southern Living At Home, which sells home decor products through
independent consultants at parties hosted in people's homes throughout the U.S.
AOL. AOL LLC (together with its subsidiaries, "AOL") is a leading global web
services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a
substantial worldwide audience. Its business spans online content, products and
services that it offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused
on attracting and engaging consumers and providing
TIME WARNER INC.
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION - (Continued)
valuable online advertising services on both its owned and operated properties
and third-party websites. As of June 2009, AOL has the largest display
advertising network in terms of online consumer reach in the U.S. For the six
months ended June 30, 2009, AOL generated revenues of $1.671 billion (12% of the
Company's overall revenues), $526 million in Operating Income before
Depreciation and Amortization and $315 million in Operating Income.
Historically, AOL's primary strategic focus was its dial-up Internet access
services business, which operated one of the largest Internet subscription
access services in the U.S. As broadband penetration in the U.S. increased, AOL
experienced a decline, which it continues to experience, in subscribers to its
access service. At the same time, online advertising experienced significant
growth. In August 2006, AOL fundamentally shifted the primary strategic focus of
its business from generating Subscription revenues to attracting and engaging
Internet consumers and generating Advertising revenues. In connection with this
shift, AOL began offering the vast majority of its content, products and
services to consumers for free in an effort to attract and engage a broader
group of consumers. While this strategic shift was announced in 2006, AOL is
still in the process of completing this transition. Consequently, AOL's
subscription access service remains an important source of its total revenues
and cash flows.
The Company has been evaluating potential transactions involving, and
structural alternatives for, AOL for some time, including the possibility of
separating AOL's global web services and subscription access services
businesses, which share infrastructure such as data centers and network
operations centers. Historically, the global web services business had three
units: (i) the first focused on content published on a variety of websites with
related applications and services; (ii) the second focused on social networking,
community and instant communications products and services; and (iii) the third
focused on providing advertising services on both AOL's owned and operated
properties and third-party websites. The subscription access services business
included the AOL-branded Internet access service as well as the CompuServe and
Netscape Internet access services.
In April 2009, Tim Armstrong was appointed AOL's Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, and he commenced a review of AOL's strategy and operations while the
Company continued its evaluation of structural alternatives. The Company's
evaluation resulted in the announcement on May 28, 2009 that it would move
forward with plans for the complete legal and structural separation of AOL from
Time Warner. Refer to "Recent Developments" for further details regarding the
separation of AOL from Time Warner.
In connection with the strategic review conducted by Mr. Armstrong, which
factored in the Company's decision to separate AOL from Time Warner, AOL has
updated its organizational structure and developed the next phase in the
strategic shift begun in 2006. AOL's strategy remains focused primarily on
attracting and engaging Internet consumers and generating Advertising revenues,
with the subscription access service managed as a valuable distribution channel
for AOL's content, product and service offerings. As a result, AOL intends to
continue to operate as a single integrated business rather than as two separate
businesses.
AOL's strategy is to focus its resources on its core competitive strengths in
web content production, local and mapping, communications and advertising
networks while expanding the presence of its content, products and service
offerings globally and on multiple platforms and digital devices. AOL also aims
to reorient its culture and reinvigorate the AOL brand by prioritizing the
consumer experience and making greater use of data-driven insights. AOL also
aims to encourage innovation through the entrepreneurial environment of AOL
Ventures.
AOL's business operations are focused on the following two areas:
• AOL Media. AOL seeks to be a global publisher of relevant and engaging
online content by utilizing open and highly scalable publishing platforms
and content management systems, as well as a leading online provider of
consumer products and services.
AOL generates Advertising revenues from its owned and operated content,
products and services, which are referred to as "AOL Media," through the
sale of display and search advertising. AOL seeks to provide effective and
efficient advertising solutions utilizing data-driven insights that help
advertisers decide how best to engage consumers.
TIME WARNER INC.
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION - (Continued)
AOL also generates revenues through its subscription access service. AOL
views its subscription access service as a valuable distribution channel for
AOL Media. AOL's access service subscribers are important users of AOL Media
and engaging both present and former access service subscribers is an
important component of its strategy. In addition, AOL's subscription access
service will remain an important source of revenue and cash flow for AOL in
the near term.
• Third Party Network. AOL also generates Advertising revenues through the
sale of advertising on third-party websites and on digital devices, which
are referred to as the "Third Party Network," and AOL markets these
advertising services to advertisers and publishers under the brand
"Advertising.com." AOL's mission is to provide an open and transparent
advertising system that is easy-to-use and offers its publishers and
advertisers unique and valuable insights. AOL seeks to significantly
increase the number of publishers and advertisers utilizing the network.
AOL markets its advertising offerings on both AOL Media and the Third Party
Network under the brand "AOL Advertising."
During the first half of 2009, AOL's Advertising revenues were negatively
affected by weakening global economic conditions, which contributed to lower
demand from a number of advertiser categories. In addition, Advertising revenues
on AOL Media were affected by downward pricing pressure on advertising
inventory. During the remainder of 2009, the Company anticipates that these
factors and trends may continue to negatively affect AOL's Advertising revenues.
Google Inc. ("Google") is, except in limited circumstances, the exclusive web
search provider for AOL Media. In connection with these search services, Google
provides AOL with a share of the revenues generated through paid text-based
search advertising on AOL Media. For the six months ended June 30, 2009,
Advertising revenues associated with the Google relationship (substantially all
of which were generated on AOL Media) were $285 million. In addition, AOL sells
search-based keyword advertising directly to advertisers on AOL Media through
the use of a white-labeled, modified version of Google's advertising platform,
for which AOL provides a share of the revenues generated through such sales to
Google. Domestically, AOL has agreed, except in certain limited circumstances,
to use Google's search services on an exclusive basis through December 19, 2010.
Upon expiration of this agreement, AOL expects to continue to generate
Advertising revenues by providing paid-search advertising on AOL Media, either
through the continuation of its relationship with Google or an agreement with
another search provider.
AOL views its subscription access service, which is offered to consumers in
the U.S. for a monthly fee, as a valuable distribution channel for AOL Media
content, product and service offerings. In general, subscribers to the
subscription access service are among the most engaged consumers on AOL Media.
However, the domestic AOL-brand access subscriber base has been declining, which
has had an adverse impact on AOL's Subscription revenues. AOL's domestic
AOL-brand access subscribers declined 1.1 million and 1.2 million in the six
months ended June 30, 2009 and 2008, respectively. The continued decline in
subscribers is the result of several factors, including the increased
availability of high-speed broadband Internet connections, the fact that a
significant amount of online content, products and services has been optimized
for use with Internet broadband connections and the effects of AOL's strategic
shift announced in 2006, which resulted in significantly reduced marketing
efforts for its subscription access service, and the free availability of the
majority of its products and services. AOL expects the net number of domestic
AOL-brand access subscribers to continue to decline. Accordingly, because
Advertising revenues associated with AOL Media in large part are generated from
the activity of current and former AOL subscribers, as AOL's subscriber base
declines, AOL needs to maintain the engagement of former subscribers similar to
historical levels and increase the number and engagement of other consumers on
AOL Media. AOL seeks to do this by continuing to develop and offer engaging
content, products and services and continuing to transition those access service
subscribers who are terminating their paid access subscriptions to the free AOL
Media offerings.
In the first quarter of 2009, in an effort to better align its cost structure
with its revenues, AOL initiated a restructuring. As a result, for the three and
six months ended June 30, 2009, the Company incurred restructuring charges of
$15 million and $73 million, respectively, primarily related to involuntary
employee terminations and facility closures, and currently expects to incur up
to approximately $80 million in restructuring charges at the AOL segment during
the remainder of 2009.
. . .