Time Warner's spin out plans
时代华纳的资产剥离方案
Timed out
挥别一个“时代”
JEFF BEWKES, the boss of Time Warner, a large media conglomerate, rarely utters the word “magazine”. Before becoming boss of Time Warner, he oversaw its highly profitable premium television channel, HBO. His passion is TV, not text. Therefore few who know Mr Bewkes were surprised when he announced on March 7th that Time Warner would spin off Time Inc, its magazine unit, by the end of 2013.
传媒巨头时代华纳的掌门杰夫•比克斯很少会提到“杂志”这个词。在接掌时代华纳之前，他负责的是该集团的利润大户——付费电视频道HBO。他热衷的是电视，而不是文字。所以当他在3月7日宣布，时代华纳将在年底之前剥离杂志部门时代公司时，了解他的人并没有几个感到意外。
Magazines are not where money in media is today. Time Inc, which publishes magazines such as Time, People and Entertainment Weekly, is one of America’s oldest and most iconic magazine companies, but it has become a drag on Time Warner’s bottom line. Last year revenue for Time Inc was $3.4 billion, down 7% from a year earlier and down more than 26% from 2008.
杂志并非当今媒体行业的“金矿”。作为《时代周刊》、《人物》和《娱乐周刊》等杂志的出版商，时代公司是美国杂志行业中历史最悠久、最具标志性的企业。但在时代华纳的账簿上，它却成了一种累赘。去年，其收入为34亿美元，较之2011年下跌了7%，而较之2008年则下跌超过26%。
Time Inc has been hit by a difficult economy, ailing advertising and uninspired leadership. Laura Lang, Time Inc’s boss who formerly ran Digitas, a digital advertising agency, took over after Jack Griffin was fired. Few felt Ms Lang ever had a real vision for what Time Inc should become. She will step down when Time Inc becomes its own public company.
时代公司的苦难来自举步维艰的经济形势、每况愈下的广告业务和缺乏创见的领导层。劳拉·朗是在杰克·格里芬被解雇之后接任掌门一职的，此前她管理的是数字广告公司迪吉特斯。绝大多数人都认为，对于时代公司的未来道路，她从来就没有真正的愿景。时代公司单独上市之后，她就将卸任。
The decision to spin off Time Inc came after negotiations with Meredith, another magazine publisher, which specialises in women’s magazines, collapsed. Time Warner originally wanted to keep control of titles that had synergies with its cable properties, such as Time and Sports Illustrated, but later rethought that strategy.
剥离时代公司这一决定，是在与梅瑞狄斯公司的谈判破裂后做出的（后者是专注于女性杂志的出版商）。时代华纳原本打算继续掌控与一些与有线电视资产“珠联璧合”的刊物，比如《时代周刊》和《体育画报》等，但后来对这一策略有了新的想法。
A deal with Meredith would have been “an elegant solution”, says Peter Kreisky, a media consultant and former advisor to Time Inc. Meredith had synergies with many of Time Inc’s titles. The combined companies could have consolidated some of their magazines, editorial staffs and advertising sales teams. Earlier this year Time Inc already announced it would lay off 6% of its work force.
时代公司前顾问、媒体咨询师皮特·克莱斯基认为，与梅瑞狄斯公司的交易原本会是“一个很好的解决办法”。因为它与时代公司的许多刊物都有协同效应。两家公司合并后，还可以整合旗下部分杂志、编辑部门和销售团队。今年早些时候，时代公司已经宣布将会裁员6%。
Now Time Inc must face the world, and shareholders, alone. Time Inc has been buttressed by Time Warner’s flush TV divisions. That is not unlike what has happened at News Corporation, a rival media conglomerate that is controlled by Rupert Murdoch. In June News Corp will split into two companies and separate its publishing assets from its film and TV business. Other media companies are also looking to offload print. The Tribune Company is trying to sell its newspapers to focus on its TV assets. Divorce is hard, especially when it is spelled out in print.
现在，时代公司必须独自面对这个世界和公司股东。此前一直支持它的是时代华纳财力雄厚的电视部门。这一点很像竞争对手新闻集团的情况（后者是由鲁伯特·默多克掌控的大型传媒集团）。今年6月，新闻集团将把旗下的出版业务和影视业务分拆为两家公司。而其他的传媒企业也正打算剥离纸媒业务。比如，论坛报业集团就正试图出售旗下几家报纸，以便专注于电视业务。分手总是痛苦的，尤其是白纸黑字的分手。
经济学家
2013-03-11
经济学家
1647次
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