Time Warner

Workers Rights - Labor Action Labor Action
Human Rights Human Rights
Political Influence Political Influence
Climate Action Climate Action
Business Ethics Business Ethics


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Time Warner

1 Time Warner Center New York NY USA
10019-8016
212-484-8000
http://www.timewarner.com

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Even among media titans, this company is a giant. Time Warner is the world’s largest media conglomerate with operations spanning film, television, cable TV, publishing, and online content and services. Its film and TV production division Warner Bros. Entertainment includes Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, while its television properties include Cinemax, HBO, and Turner Broadcasting. Time Warner Cable is the #2 cable operator (behind Comcast), serving more than 14 million subscribers, while its AOL unit attracts more than 100 million Internet users to its online content portal. Venerable Time Inc. is the top consumer magazine publisher with such titles as Fortune, People, and Time.

Criticism

Business Ethics

  • Time Warner to Probe Executive in ‘Sugar Daddy’ Scandal“The probe was spurred by alleged madam Andrea Schwartz’s claims that the married Wayne Pace, 56, showered her with gifts, clothes and cash, and even helped her buy an apartment…Pace’s lawyer said Time Warner’s investigation will not uncover any financial misdeeds by the executive, who last year earned $3.7 million in salary and bonus at the company, which owns CNN, Time Warner Cable, People magazine and other media entities…Time Warner brass did not formally communicate with employees yesterday about the scandal.”
  • Hype can’t save AOL Time Warner from scandal “For the second week in a row the internet giant which in 2000 shook up the corporate world with its $100 billion-plus takeover…First it was a management coup which saw the forced departure of AOL’s chief operating officer and internet whizz kid Robert Pittman who took charge of the American Online unit in 1996. With several veteran Time Warner executives rising up the ranks, the management changes were a sign to many in the industry that the honeymoon was over.US Securities and Exchange Commission had begun a “fact-finding” investigation into accusations by the Washington Post that it booked over $200 million in questionable advertising revenues…the much-hyped “synergies” of the largest media content provider on the planet failed to appear out of the hybrid conglomerate creating a damaging feudalistic culture internally…Advertising sales revenue has also slumped 11%, but even ads can’t take all the blame for AOL Time Warner reporting the biggest quarterly loss in corporate history, $54.2bn…There is no doubt that AOL Time Warner will continue to be punished heavily for any lingering concerns over accounting, especially as it is now viewed as one of the most disappointing stocks trading in the current bear market.”
  • Cd Price Fixing “Detroit, MI: (Nov-09-07) The Michigan State Attorney General’s office, 43 states, and US territories brought charges against Sony, Time Warner, and Virgin Group alleging that music retailers and distributors engaged in a CD price-fixing scam.”

Worker’s Rights

  • Responsible Shopper Profile: Time Warner Inc. ” “They have no means to voice their needs or to protect their lawful rights…. Tragedies such as the Merton riot were a result of the misguided social policy that overemphasizes economic growth and neglects labor rights.” Children aged 13 and up were hired by Rubies in Mexico, a subcontractor producing Halloween costumes for Warner Brothers. These children and other workers were locked out of the factory for protesting labor abuses, particularly violations of Mexican child labor and safety regulations…Time Warner’s manipulation of free-lance journalists…on the exploitative nature of “work-for-hire” contracts, which strip journalists of all rights to their work while simultaneously leaving them open to any liability.”

Human Rights

  • Responsible Shopper Profile: Time Warner Inc. “NOW Magazine (UK), owned by Time Warner, is among the publications targeted by Survival’s Stamp it Out campaign. Survival is working to “challenge racist descriptions of tribal people in the media” and to end the use of such discriminatory terms as “primitive” and “stone age,” which the group argues has contributed to the persecution and forced development of tribal peoples.”

Political Influence

  • Al’s Pals: A List of Gore’s Top Donors “TIME/WARNER ($73,525): Keeping the Internet free of taxation and regulators out of the cable industry are Time/Warner’s chief goals. No longer gives soft money.”
  • Responsible Shopper Profile: Time Warner Inc. “The station rejected a debate on the grounds that Tasini has not spent enough money on the race. In order to appear on the station, NY1 requires that candidates poll at least 5 percent and have spent or raised $500,000. Tasini was polling at 13 percent but his campaign had only raised $150,000. Democracy Now! invited NY1 to respond to this criticism but the station declined…From 1989 to May 2006, Time Warner gave $15.834 million in campaign contributions. In the 2004 election cycle, Time Warner gave a total of $2.912 million; 76 percent of which went to Democratic candidates. The media giant is particularly concerned with the rules governing television ownership and has interests in relaxing government regulation prohibiting cable television stations from owning broadcast stations in the same market.”

Praise

Brands & Subsidiaries

AC Holdings, Inc.,
Cable News Network,
Cartoon Network Studios Inc.,
Courtroom Television Network,
DC Comics,
European Magazines Limited,
Evarn Limited,
Filmbank Distributors Limited,
Home Box Office, Inc.,
IPC Media Limited,
Laugh Out Loud, Inc.,
Link House Magazines Limited,
Media Networks Inc.,
New Line Productions,
QSP Inc.,
Rocksteady Studios Limited,
Synapse Group Inc.,
Time Inc.,
Time Warner Inc.,
TT Games Ltd,
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.,
Turner Classic Movies, Inc.,
Turner Network Television, Inc.,
Turner Studios, Inc.,
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.


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