Time Warner Inc

Time Warner Inc. will pay $260 million to end a securities fraud suit led by the University of California, resolving one of the last claims over the company's 2001 merger with America Online Inc., the university said. Investors claimed that America Online inflated its stock price prior to its merger with New York-based Time Warner by misrepresenting sales, revenue and subscriber numbers, the university said.

Time Warner Inc. will pay $144 million to Ohio and five state pension funds to settle a securities-fraud lawsuit, resolving one of the last claims over its 2001 acquisition by America Online Inc. The payment is $135 million more than the pension funds would have received had they participated in a $2.4-billion settlement with shareholders in 2005, Ohio Atty. Gen. Marc Dann said. The company also agreed to cover $31 million in legal fees and expenses.

Time Warner Inc. agreed to pay $117.7 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the California Public Employees' Retirement System over the company's 2001 merger with America Online Inc., CalPERS said Wednesday. CalPERS' 2003 suit alleged that there were accounting irregularities at AOL, the Internet company that combined with New York-based Time Warner in January 2001. The settlement is Time Warner's fourth this year related to the merger, for a total of $623 million. Time Warner set aside $1.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn cut his stake in Time Warner Inc. by almost half in the first quarter while adding shares of oil and railroad companies. Icahn's funds reduced holdings of New York-based Time Warner to 12.9 million shares from 25 million at the end of December, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. He bought 3.1 million shares of oil producer Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and 4.59 million shares of oil drilling-rig contractor Pride International Inc.

Time Warner Inc. said no decision had been made on when Richard Parsons would step down as chief executive of the world's largest media company. Parsons may announce the handoff to President Jeffrey Bewkes as early as next week, the London-based Times reported on its website. The topic was discussed at a board meeting in London this week, the Times said. New York-based Time Warner confirmed the meeting but said the company had no comment.

Jeffrey Bewkes, the incoming chief executive of Time Warner Inc., named John K. Martin to be chief financial officer. Both begin their new jobs Jan. 1. Martin had most recently been chief financial officer of Time Warner Cable, one of the largest business units of Time Warner and the second-largest cable company in the country, behind Comcast Corp. Martin, 40, succeeds Wayne Pace, 61, who is retiring.

Time Warner Inc. signed a five-year employment agreement with incoming Chief Executive Jeffrey L. Bewkes and signaled that Bewkes would add the chairman's title at the end of next year. The media conglomerate, in a regulatory filing Friday, said Bewkes would receive annual base pay of $1.75 million, plus an annual target bonus of $8.5 million. The base pay is a raise from his $1.25-million salary this year as president and chief operating officer, and the target bonus is up from $7.5 million.

Former Viacom Inc. and Universal Studios Chief Executive Frank Biondi is coming out of corporate retirement to take on a surprising role: helping lead the hostile fight for control of Time Warner Inc., the world's biggest media company. In an interview Monday, Biondi confirmed that he was teaming up with billionaire investor Carl Icahn to try to unseat the board of Time Warner at the company's shareholder meeting in May.

Time Warner Inc. is selling its book publishing division to the French conglomerate Lagardere for $537.5 million, the companies said Monday. Time Warner Book Group is the fifth-largest U.S. book publisher, with a stable of writers that includes Nelson DeMille and James Patterson. Its major imprints include Warner Books and Little, Brown. The deal would make Lagardere's book-publishing unit the third-largest worldwide.

Intensifying his battle for Time Warner Inc., financier Carl Icahn detailed a plan Tuesday that he argued could lift the media giant's stock price as much as 43% by breaking it into four pieces. Icahn continued his personal attack on Time Warner Chief Executive Richard Parsons, whom he has blamed for the company's stock slump. But the billionaire investor signaled for the first time a willingness to retain Time Warner President Jeffrey Bewkes, Parsons' heir apparent, if he prevails.