Dick Parsons, already a director on the board since 1991, was hired as Time Warner president in 1995, although the division operational heads continued to report directly to Chairman and CEO Gerald Levin.
(meta data) TITLE: Time Warner COO: For Media, Corporate Diversity Is About Business | TIME.com (meta data) PUBLISHER: http://www.facebook.com/time ## Time.com MY ACCOUNT SIGN IN SIGN OUT TIME Health The TIME Vault TIME Labs The Goods Shop TIME Press Room TIME Guide to Happiness The 100 Most Influential People Guns in America Next Generation Leaders Person of the Year Space Explorers: The ISS Experience Privacy Policy Your California Privacy Rights Terms of Use Ad Choices TIME Apps TIME for Kids Reprints and Permissions Site Map Customer Service © 2019 TIME USA, LLC All rights reserved. Sign InSubscribe ### Work In Progress # Time Warner COO: For Media, Corporate Diversity Is About Business By lisacullen May 04, 2007 Follow @TIMEBusiness I just had lunch with Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner's soon-to-be CEO. Okay, so technically speaking, I was in a large room with many other people eating sandwiches in the presence of Bewkes. The luncheon was arranged by A3, Time Inc.'s Asian group, and ably hosted by my friend Stephanie Mehta, a senior writer at Fortune. The lunch was mainly off the record, but I'd like to share some of the conversation with you. Corporate diversity's been on my mind a lot lately, and how often do we underlings get to grill our top corporate officers on the subject, mano-a-mano (or, at least, many-a-mano-a-mano)? More importantly, the company I work for happens to be the world's largest media company, and though diversity matters in every sector, I think our outsized influence makes it matters here more. Jeffrey Bewkes is my boss's boss's boss's boss. In other words, he's the president and COO of Time Warner./ Photo courtesy of Time Warner. Bewkes is a guy with a lot on his plate. He was named president and chief operating officer of Time Warner in December 2005, and as such oversees Time Inc., HBO, Turner Broadcasting (CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network), Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, Time Warner Cable and AOL. He spent most of his career at HBO. Our current CEO is, of course, Dick Parsons, who is perhaps the best known and most powerful CEO of color in the country. But dig a few levels below, and the palette is decidedly more monochromatic. Still, it appears diversity is something Bewkes has spent some time chewing over. Mehta asked Bewkes to make a business case for diversity. He responded: ""We need to produce relevant content for an increasingly diverse population. We are ever fragmenting–and by that I mean not just in ethnicity and nationality but in interests." He went on to describe the extremely diverse programming at HBO–diverse not just in color but in content and tone–and how that's helped it become such an entertainment leader. One piece of advice he had for up-and-coming workers that I thought was useful: make your (white, male, older) boss criticize you. Studies bear him out: research shows that supervisors find it far easier to give honest feedback to people who resemble them, whether in gender, color or background. "Whatever he's telling you, it's worse," he said, to laughter in the room. "Make him tell you what you're lousy at." FYI, he used language a little saltier than "lousy." But it's a good point, I thought. As for retaining and promoting minorities to the top, I hope that in his future role he'll give serious thought to assigning some sort of systemic accountability–the only proven management tactic for change. (Read my article in TIME on this topic.) It matters, not just for those of us who work here but for our millions of viewers, readers and consumers. Like Bewkes says, it's about business. ### SubscribePopular Among Subscribers #### Japan's Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn #### Young Kids, Old Bodies #### Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Secrets, Leaks, and Sherlock #### Obama's Trauma Team Get all access to digital and printSubscribe Most Popular From Business & Money The Right Way to Cancel a Credit Card5 Surprising Things You Can Buy With Food StampsThe 3,000-Mile Oil Change MythComcast's Internet Essentials: $10-a-Month Service for Low-Income FamiliesThe Best Times to Buy Clothing From Time.com ### Connect With TIME
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History.:1990s.
US West partnered with Time Warner in 1993 to form what is now known as TW Telecom, initially known as "Time Warner Communications" (also utilized as the brand name for cable operation previously under the ATC name), in order to bring telephone via fiber to the masses. US West also took a 26% stake in the entertainment portion of the company, calling that division "Time Warner Entertainment" (or legally "Time Warner Entertainment Company L.P."). US West's stake eventually passed to acquired cable company MediaOne, then to AT&T Broadband in 1999 when that company acquired MediaOne, then finally to Comcast in 2001 when that company bought the AT&T Broadband division. Comcast sold their stake in the company in 2003, relegating the name to a subdivision under Time Warner Cable. 
 In October 1996, Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting System, which was established by Ted Turner. Not only did this result in the company (in a way) re-entering the basic cable television industry (in regards to nationally available channels), but Warner Bros. also regained the rights to their pre-1950 film library, which by then had been owned by Turner (the films are still technically held by Turner, but WB is responsible for sales and distribution), while Turner gained access to WB's post-1950 library, as well as other WB-owned properties. 
 Time Warner completed its purchase of Six Flags Theme Parks in 1993 after buying half of the company in 1991, saving it from financial trouble. The company was later sold to Oklahoma-based theme park operator Premier Parks under certain terms and conditions on April 1, 1998.