A rise to the top that's no surprise
Jeffrey Bewkes' ascension to the top executive post at the world's biggest media company Time Warner Inc, unlike his predecessor's, surprised no one.
His rare combination of financial savvy and knack for managing creative talent made him an obvious choice to succeed Richard Parsons, who was viewed in 2002 as a dark-horse candidate to run a company that controls some of the top brands in media: CNN, People magazine and paid cable network HBO.
Bewkes, 55, cut his teeth at HBO in 1979 when cable television was still in its infancy.
He graduated from Yale and received his MBA at Stanford, then did brief stints at Sonoma Vineyards and Citibank before landing at HBO's sales and marketing department.
He rose through the ranks and was named HBO's CEO by 1995, building the network from a second-run movie outlet into a developer of critically acclaimed original TV series such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City and Six Feet Under during a period now viewed as HBO's golden age.
Parsons tapped Bewkes to be his right-hand man overseeing the company's content divisions. He was promoted to chief operating officer and president by December 2005, after Don Logan, who oversaw cable and AOL, retired.
Bewkes's challenge now is to find a way to boost Time Warner's shares, which have languished over the past 5 years. The stock has fallen about 18 percent in 2007, underperforming peers including News Corp and Walt Disney Co.
Expectations are high for Bewkes, who had been an outspoken critic of the AOL-Time Warner merger. Time Warner shares rose nearly 4 percent on October 26 on reports of his appointment, and rose another 3 percent on Monday before easing back.
Agencies
(China Daily 11/07/2007 page16)
