It's no secret that Time Warner has been loosing money ever since it merged with AOL in 2001. Now Time Warner is determining whether or not America Online improperly accounted for losses at its European division before the merger. Apparently AOL Europe suffered significant losses that American Online didn't incorporate in its own financial results.
Time Warner Inc. has launched an internal investigation to determine whether America Online improperly accounted for losses at its European division before and after the AOL-Time Warner merger in 2001, the media giant disclosed yesterday. During the period in question, AOL Europe posted significant losses that Dulles-based America Online did not incorporate in its own financial results, according to public filings. Time Warner said it may have to restate earnings as a result of its review.
The bookkeeping under scrutiny involved the sale of a small stake in AOL Europe to Goldman Sachs Group, which temporarily reduced AOL's ownership in AOL Europe to below 50 percent, according to a recent article in Business Week. Since it was no longer a majority stockholder, AOL reported AOL Europe's results separately from its own. The maneuvers may have helped AOL keep its earnings and stock price up prior to its January 2001 merger with Time Warner, the article said. AOL eventually repurchased the stake from Goldman to again become the majority shareholder.
News source: Yahoo! News
Time Warner Inc. has launched an internal investigation to determine whether America Online improperly accounted for losses at its European division before and after the AOL-Time Warner merger in 2001, the media giant disclosed yesterday. During the period in question, AOL Europe posted significant losses that Dulles-based America Online did not incorporate in its own financial results, according to public filings. Time Warner said it may have to restate earnings as a result of its review.
The bookkeeping under scrutiny involved the sale of a small stake in AOL Europe to Goldman Sachs Group, which temporarily reduced AOL's ownership in AOL Europe to below 50 percent, according to a recent article in Business Week. Since it was no longer a majority stockholder, AOL reported AOL Europe's results separately from its own. The maneuvers may have helped AOL keep its earnings and stock price up prior to its January 2001 merger with Time Warner, the article said. AOL eventually repurchased the stake from Goldman to again become the majority shareholder.
News source: Yahoo! News
Cont...
Additionally, McNealy said, "We believe that SNE is preparing now for the production of its next-generation of products, from the Sony PlayStation Portable to the next-generation PlayStation console and other consumer electronics devices that will be based on its cell processor."
Suggesting such a ramp-up was one of the reasons the game division earnings had slumped, Katsumi Ihara, group chief financial officer for Sony, reportedly said at a Tokyo news conference. "For the PSP and the next-generation entertainment system we continue to have a high level of investment which is bringing down profit."
Sony's net sales for the quarter were flat at 1.6 trillion yen ($14.8 billion), up just 0.5 percent from the previous year, and operating income was 9.8 billion yen ($87.7 million), down from 16.7 billion yen ($149 million) a year earlier.
I knew they were lying to Time Warner, that's an AOL tactic for ya. Time Warner, has been and will be beyond being that low. Someone needed to Audit AOL anyway.
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