video In an appearance yesterday on CNBC, Gerald Levin, who led the historic $164 billion deal ten years ago, apologized for the colossal failure of the sale, putting himself on the line a decade later. "I presided over the worst deal of the century, apparently, and I guess it’s time for those who are involved in companies to stand up and say: you know what, I’m solely responsible for it,” said Levin. “I was in charge. I’m really very sorry about the pain and the suffering and loss that was caused. I take responsibility." Obvious, but not quite healing words. (more...)

The year 2009 had many media bright spots, break-out stars, dominating networks and game-changing technologies.  The Mediaite 50 collects the finest, most exemplary innovators and influencers of the year, defining a media moment in time and setting the agenda as we move forward. (more...)

The new AOL -- er, Aol. -- has a vision for the digital future, in which a consolidated editorial product is curated and created in the most efficient way possible: by computers instead of people. That's right -- in the wake of layoffs, but amidst a concerted effort to surge ahead with online content, AOL is making due with what they have, which happens to be lots and lots of technology. And freelancers. (more...)

Edgy? Dumb? Clever? AOL revealed a half-dozen new logos yesterday in anticipation of its split with Time Warner at the end of the year, and they present a sharp departure from the running man and Illuminati triangle of the company's dialup days. Among the changes: lowercase letters, whimsical graphics and doodles, and, most importantly, a dot at the end. Why is the dot so important? (more...)

In the next three months, Time Inc. will slash 280 jobs, whittling away at iconic titles like Sports Illustrated, Essence, and People. Time also underwent a big round of cuts in early 2007, but this is still major news. Why is it going over so quietly, especially in light of the wave of Condéfreude last month? (more...)

With the benefit of hindsight, the AOL-Time Warner merger is widely derided as a very, very bad idea. If you type "AOL Time Warner" into Google, "AOL Time Warner merger failure" is one of the first results to pop up.

Now, on the eve of AOL's split with Time Warner, a tipster tells Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson that the heads of AOL and Time Inc. met for more than three hours to discuss a possible "co spin-off" from their parent company.  (more...)

There are many unanswered questions circulating about the fate of Time Inc., the magazine division of Time Warner, home to titles like Time and People. But AOL blog DailyFinance is reporting that at The Atlantic Monthly's "First Draft of History" conference, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes had some definitive answers: "Time Inc. is not for sale," he said. "People made these rumors because they want a lot of activity."

"he readership is solid, the readership is holding up, the readers are happy, the titles are thriving," he continued, saying that he believes Time Warner will still own magazines five years down the line. He also took the opportunity to deny that Time Warner had any interest in buying NBC Universal. But is the company's CEO really the most reliable source when it comes to potential business dealings? He's trying to run a business after all. (more...)

Earlier this week the NYT's David Carr wrote a glowing account of AOL's transformation from "gated community" to a growing content (and traffic) juggernaut. Emphasis on the "growing" — Mediaite just learned that AOL's Daily Finance blog has signed on former Portfolio.com staffer Sam Gustin, who will be joining the Daily Finance team as a contributor on Monday. This brings its writers to an impressive 20 — and its ex-Portfolio staffers to three. (more...)

The NY Times' David Carr writes about AOL's transformation from gated-community ISP to content powerhouse. And while AOL deserves a ton of credit for righting a ship that appeared destined to to sink, a closer look at how the Internet giant gets its massive traffic numbers actually belies the true value of both content and traffic. Is all this focus on content part of a larger communications strategy in advance of Time Warner's plans to spin-off AOL as a separate company? (more...)

In his column in today's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz painted Politics Daily as a fantastic wonderland of six-figure salaries, 5000-word articles, foreign correspondents who actually go overseas, and a distaste for the "hyperpartisan." All of which sounds great, but could it ever turn a profit in an environment where traffic for articles like "Strippers Compete in Palin Look-alike Contest" is likely to dwarf Afghanistan coverage for the foreseeable future? If not, what is AOL trying to pull? (more...)

In a fascinating Washington Post column yesterday, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington described how AOL is scooping up some of the best print reporters from short-sighted print publications:

arlier today I got a glimpse at what AOL is up to - they are hiring all the journalists being fired and laid off by the newspapers and magazines. And they now have a news room 1,500 journalists and editors strong. Amazingly, failing old media is throwing away their most valuable assets. And AOL is eagerly picking those assets up for a song. Before anyone knows it, AOL may be the most powerful news outlet in the world.

But if consultant-happy print publications are shooting themselves in the feet, the arrangement is mutually beneficial for journalists and for AOL, whose CEO, Tim Armstrong, announced earlier this year that the company plans to shift its focus to "the content business." (more...)

On Monday it was announced in a U.S. regulatory filing that Time Warner paid $283 million for Google Inc's 5 percent stake in AOL. This underscored Time Warner's plans to spin off AOL by the end of the year. This transaction places AOL's total value at roughly $5.7 billion in the eyes of both TW and Google. (more...)