Magazine Clearance at Time-Warner?

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At a recent seminar on the future makeover of media conglomerates, the managing director of Time Warner, Inc.'s largest shareholder foresaw Time Warner jettisoning its magazine unit and shoring up its entertainment holdings.

Speaking at a program entitled "The Art of the Long View: The Media Company of 2020, sponsored by the Annenberg School for Communication at the Univ. of Southern California, Gordon Crawford of the Capital Group, which owns 7 or 8 percent of Time Warner's stock according to various media accounts, anticipates Time Warner will divest itself of its print unit, just as it has spun off its cable division and dumped America Online (AOL).

Time, Inc.'s stable of 23 magazines published in the U.S. include Sports Illustrated, People and Time. The media giant has not been spared the recession-induced misery enshrouding the print media, as mass layoffs last year trimmed 6 percent of its employees. Second quarter revenues for the magazine unit declined 22 percent because of a 26 percent drop in advertising resvenues.

Time, Inc., is the nation's largest publisher of periodicals. Time Warner has not responded to Crawford's speculation.