A decade after the fact, Gerald Levin, in an appearance Monday with AOL co-founder Steve Case, apologized for creating AOL Time Warner, and said that the merger was a mistake, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Levin, who was the CEO of Time Warner at the time, was still vigorously defending the merger just a few weeks ago.
However this week he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that "I presided over the worst deal of the century, apparently."
"I have been obviously reflecting on it," he said. "I was the CEO. I was in charge. I’m really very sorry about the pain and suffering and loss that was caused."
–Elizabeth Jensen
Hindsight IS 20-20 vision. The damage done while he and a few others pocketed millions a decade ago is NOT forgotten.
OK, I give him credit for standing up with some Truth. It is refreshing to read this in an era when those at, or near, the top only acknowledge their successes.
The secret, of course, is will the lessons learned be exercised and put into practice?
Only the Shadow knows, (and he ain’t talking).
Peter Bright
This is SOP for may an upper-level executive.
Contrition is not a genuine feeling, but only part of the balance statement for guys like this. He decided that he’d have more to lose by stubbornly denying failure and looking like an idiot, rather than fessing up to his mistakes, thus improving his goodwill and future lecture circuit prospects, or whatever.
But I doubt he regrets the gobs of money he made by knowingly making bad choices.
If he is that sorry then he wouldn’t miss it if he sent me the $50k I lost as a TWC employee on the stock that was suppossed to have great synergies. Oh, yeah, synergy, I forgot that was just another BS talking point. The only synergy was between them and their bankers.