Time Warner, the world's largest media company, will "look hard" in the next 12 to 18 months at possibly selling off its AOL dial-up Internet access business, similar to its strategy in Europe.
AOL, which restructured last year to offer most of its services for free,
Chief Executive Richard Parsons said the idea, which it has explored in the past, was difficult as its access business continues to contribute traffic to its AOL.com portal.
"It's much more complicated here than in Europe," Parsons told investors attending the Goldman Communicopia media conference in New York on Tuesday.
AOL said on Monday it would realign its advertising business
The company also announced on Tuesday it
Some investors and Wall Street analysts have called for the sale or spin off of AOL, the complete divestiture of Time Warner Cable, and the sale of its publishing company, from which its name is derived, as a way to resuscitate its sluggish stock price.
"The focus right now is let's see if we can build it," Parsons said of AOL.
Addressing calls for a breakup of Time Warner, he said, "We would like to see if the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which I believe it to be."
