Time Warner to Incur $25 Billion Impairment Charge

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 7, 2009 - 10:27am.

New York - Media giant Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) said on Wednesday that it expects to record a $25 billion impairment charge in the fourth quarter, accounting for the decreased value of its cable, publishing and AOL units. The Associated Press reported that Time Warner Cable will account for 60% of the charge.

The company also said that "the economic environment has proved somewhat more challenging than [it] previously expected, particularly for the advertising businesses at the AOL and publishing segments."

As a result, Time Warner said that it now expects to incur a net loss for 2008, after earlier predicting earnings of $1.04-$1.07 a share.

Shares of the company were down nearly 7% in Wednesday's mid-afternoon trading.