Company officially drops 'AOL' from its name, adopts old TWX stock symbol

October 16, 2003

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - AOL Time Warner Inc. is now Time Warner Inc.

The company officially dropped "AOL" from its name on Thursday as the media powerhouse tried to restore investors' confidence.

Time Warner (TWX: up $0.25 to $15.94), whose board approved the name change about a month ago, assumed the combined name when Internet service provider America Online bought Time Warner Inc. in January 2001 during the height of the dot.com boom.

The company said its ticker symbol for the company's common stock has changed to "TWX" from "AOL" with this morning's opening of the New York Stock Exchange.

New York-based Time Warner said dropping "AOL" from the name will help restore luster to the America Online consumer brand, which has been losing subscribers for the first time in its history.

Some analysts and shareholders see it as an effort to downplay one of the troubled units of the company and put the problems associated with the merger behind it.

The America Online division has faced federal probes into its accounting practices and it has been trying to reverse declining advertising revenue and the first loss of subscribers in its history, as customers are being wooed by lower-cost dial up services and higher-speed "broadband" connections to the Internet.

Time Warner, whose other units include Warner Bros. studios, Time Inc. publishing, Time Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting as well as CNN/Money, will also change its Web site address to www.timewarner.com from www.aoltimewarner.com.

The company also said its new headquarters building in Manhattan's Columbus Circle will now be called Time Warner Center from the planned AOL Time Warner Center.

© 2003 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.