Cable TV Drives Up Time Warner 1Q Profit

[dogday]

NEW YORK - Time Warner Inc. reported a higher first-quarter profit Wednesday, driven by strong results in cable TV and a gain from selling its book group, but investors were disappointed by another slump at AOL.

Profit at the New York-based media conglomerate jumped nearly 60 percent to $1.46 billion, or 32 cents a share, in the January-March period from $915 million, or 19 cents per share a year ago, as revenues rose 1 percent to $10.46 billion. Time Warner's properties include Warner Bros., Time Inc., CNN and HBO.

Even after stripping out the $206 million gain from the book group sale and other one-time effects, earnings rose 32 percent to $1.2 billion from $908 million, or to 26 cents per share versus 19 cents. That was well ahead of the 20 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial, as the company bought back nearly $4 billion of its own stock in the quarter.

However, worse-than-expected losses of dial-up subscribers to its AOL unit and a 17 percent slide in profits there unsettled investors, who sent the company's share price down 28 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $17.14 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060503/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_time_warner_10


And this is news how? Rich get Richer while the poor get SCREWED!!!!