Gerald M. Levin, the previous CEO of Time Warner who orchestrated its disastrous merger with AOL, died Wednesday. He was 84.
Levin’s grandchild Jake Maia Arlow confirmed his loss of life to the New York Occasions, saying that Levin died in a hospital and lived in Lengthy Seashore, Calif. Whereas a explanation for loss of life was not disclosed, Levin had been recognized with Parkinson’s illness.
Levin was named co-CEO of Time Warner alongside Steven J. Ross in 1992; he grew to become the only chief govt when Ross died months later from prostate most cancers.
Levin and then-AOL CEO Steve Case introduced the $350 billion deal to merge the 2 corporations on Jan. 10, 2000, on the peak of the dot-com bubble. After the merger, creating AOL Time Warner, components just like the dot-com recession vastly affected the corporate, resulting in a historic $100 billion write-down. Levin resigned in 2002.
Previous to the AOL Time Warner debacle, Levin was an legal professional who grew to become a programming govt in 1972 at a regional pay-TV channel known as Dwelling Field Workplace. He was promoted to CEO a yr later and, in 1975, satisfied its father or mother firm, Time Inc., to transmit HBO‘s sign nationwide through satellite tv for pc.
“Advocating for HBO to be on the satellite tv for pc was one of the crucial essential choices of my whole profession,” Levin mentioned in James Andrew Miller’s 2021 guide “Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers” (per NYT). “The one means you get forward is for those who see one thing that nobody else sees and it’s a little bit loopy. Satellite tv for pc at the moment was type of a dreamy factor, however the concept of creating HBO right into a nationwide community moderately than counting on a number of little cable networks was a reasonably large concept.”
Levin was elected a Time board member in 1988, and performed a vital position within the firm’s merger with Warner Communications. As Time Warner CEO, he dealt with the acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System, convey CNN, TBS, the Cartoon Community and different cable belongings into the corporate.
Levin was born on Might 6, 1939, in Philadelphia to David and Pauline (Shantzer) Levin. He earned a bachelor’s diploma at Haverford Faculty in 1960, and obtained a legislation diploma from the College of Pennsylvania in 1963.
Levin was married thrice: to Carol Needleman, Barbara Riley and Laurie Perlman. All three marriages resulted in divorce.
Levin is survived by 4 youngsters. He’s preceded in loss of life by his son Jonathan.