Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is the world's third largest media and entertainment conglomerate by market capitalization (behind News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company), headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. (TimeWarner.com Fact Sheet Page) Formerly three separate companies (and owns the assets of a fourth, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., acquired by a pre-AOL merger TW in 1996): Warner Communications, Inc. and Time Inc. before the Time-Warner merger in 1990 and America Online, Inc. before its purchase of Time Warner in 2001 has created the current Time Warner , with major operations in film, television, publishing, Internet service and telecommunications. Among its subsidiaries are AOL, New Line Cinema, Time Inc., HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, The CW Television Network, TheWB.com, UBU Productions, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Kids' WB, The CW4Kids, Cartoon Network, CNN, DC Comics, and Mohawk Productions.

1976

In 1972, Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and renamed itself Warner Communications Inc.

It was the parent company for Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Music Group during the 1970s and 1980s. It also owned DC Comics and Mad, as well as a majority stake in Garden State National Bank (an investment it was ultimately required to sell pursuant to requirements under the Bank Holding Company Act). Warner's initial divestiture efforts led by Garden State CEO Charles A. Agemian were blocked by Garden State board member William A. Conway in 1978; a revised transaction was later completed in 1980.

In 1976, Nolan Bushnell sold his Atari company to Warner Communications for an estimated $28–32 million. Warner made considerable profits (and later losses) with Atari, which it owned from 1976 to 1984. While part of Warner, Atari achieved its greatest success, selling millions of Atari 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in the history of the United States at the time.

In 1975, Warner expanded under the guidance of CEO Steve Ross and formed a joint venture with American Express, named Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which held cable channels including MTV (launched 1981), Nickelodeon (launched 1979) and The Movie Channel. Warner bought out American Express's half in 1984, and sold the venture a year later to Viacom, which renamed it MTV Networks.

1985

In 1980, Warner purchased The Franklin Mint for about $225 million. The combination was short lived: Warner sold The Franklin Mint in 1985 to American Protection Industries Inc. (API) for $167.5 million. However, Warner retained Franklin Mint's Eastern Mountain Sports as well as The Franklin Mint Center, which it leased back to API.