The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 30

1 i ijjj BUSINESS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2003 B-6 THE RFOORD SJXB I Time Warner erases AOL name, not memory of merger blunder Media revolution was giant failure Participate In Our National Newspaper Week Celebration And Put Your Students1 Work "On The Record!" lllds: "Why do pu lilie to read The Record 1" National Newspaper Week, October 5-11, is a celebration highlighting the lasting effect that newspapers have on people's lives. Celebrate this special week through involvement in "KIDS ON THE RECORD." Students' work will be selected for publication in The Record, Tuesday, October 7. orttr rate structure, cleaning up its balance sheet, and selling off businesses not central to its core media operations. This week the company announced its latest asset sale, a deal to sell its two winter sports teams in Atlanta, the NBA's Hawks and the NHL's Thrashers, to a Boston businessman for $250 million. AOL has also sold off a DVD manufacturing facility and its half-interest in the Comedy Central cable channel.

In a memo to employees, Parsons said the company was delivering on its goals of debt reduction and turning around AOL. "We've also devoted a good deal of attention to revitalizing company morale," he wrote. Investors and analysts responded well to the name change. The company's stock has been rising since last month, when word first came out that the change was being considered. In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the shares rose 14 cents to close at $16.45.

"AOL is a very unattractive tail on a beautiful dog," said Larry Haverty, a media analyst at State Street Research in Boston. "It's the best possible thing for a shareholder admit your mistake and move on." logos, the way it promotes its brands, and even its ticker symbol, which is "AOL" but will revert to "TWX." The change will also affect the name on the company's new headquarters, a gleaming 80-story structure in Manhattan's Columbus Circle currently known as AOL Time Warner Center. The building is nearly complete and will be opened to its first occupant, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, in the falL Time Warner plans to move in next spring. The pioneering Internet company America Online was once seen as a catalyst to breathe new life into the various media properties of Time Warner, including HBO, Time magazine, and the nation's No. 2 cable company, Time Warner Cable.

Now, AOL is the company biggest embarrassment AOL is still profitable, on track to make $1 billion this year, but it's facing a host of problems, including a regulatory inquiry into its accounting and an eroding subscriber base as users drop AOL for faster connections to the Internet With hopes for a media revolution now a distant memory, the company will continue to focus on simplifying its tangled corpo- By SETH SUTEL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK Acknowledging the failures of the largest merger in U.S. history, the board of AOL Time Warner Inc. voted Thursday to remove the letters "AOL" from the company's name. The largest media and entertainment company in the world will now be called Time Warner as it was before the merger announced on Jan. 10, 2000, that was billed as a way to jump-start a media revolution by combining "old" and "new" media companies.

"We believe that our new name better reflects the portfolio of our valuable businesses and ends any confusion between our corporate name and the America Online brand name for our investors, partners, and the public," Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Parsons said in a statement The company declined to make Parsons available to comment The name change will be phased in over the next several weeks, and will affect the compa- Mow to participate? K-2- Students should submit an original drawing (no larger than 812x1 1 showing something they enjoy about The Record. 3-6- Students should submit a reply (50 words or less) to the question: "Why do you like to read The Record?" 6-12- Students should write a short essay (100 words or less) that answers the above question. Additions! Information? The entry form below must accompany each submission. Each written submission should either be printed neatly on lined paper, or should be typed and double spaced. A parental permission form must accompany each submission.

Please call (201) 646-47134384 in order to get this form. Stocks What happens if my student's piece Is selected? All selections will be printed in The Record on Tuesday, October 7. All selected students will also receive a Record baseball cap. EEEffEIiB Name Teacher drug Baycol. Citigroup Inc.

was up $1.71, or 3.8 percent, at $46.65 after Merrill Lynch's decision to reinstate coverage of the stock with a "buy" rating. Sun Microsystems Inc. also got a boost, gaining 15 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $4.17 after news that the troubled computer and software maker would trim an additional 3 percent of its workforce, or an estimated 1,080 jobs, as part of its effort to improve its performance. The market had a mixed reaction to news of tentative contracts between autoworkers and General Motors Corp. and Delphi Corp.

GM rose 27 cents to $41.96, while Delphi lost 4 cents to $9.62. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 2-to-l on the NYSE. Consolidated volume was moderate at 1.91 billion shares, compared with 1.72 billion on Wednesday. Kumar, chief investment strategist for CIBC World Markets, said the moves suggest the market is becoming more resilient, but third-quarter earnings reports, which are due out next month, will be key in whether the upward trend continues. "The market is expecting earnings to meet analysts' consensus," Kumar said.

"If earnings exceed expectations, that could send prices higher. I think that if the 500 during this earnings season were to cross up to the 1,075 level, that would be too much ahead. And there could be the potential for pullback." In trading Thursday, German pharmaceutical maker Bayer surged $1.33, or 6 percent, to $23.63 on news a federal judge had denied class-action status to several thousand lawsuits against the company over its anti-cholesterol School From Page B-l for jobless benefits fell by a seasonally adjusted 29,000 to 399,000 for the workweek ending Sept 13. It was the lowest level of claims since the week ending Aug. 23, and marked the first time since then that claims dipped below the 400,000 mark.

"We've got some decent economic data," said Tim Smalls, a trader at SG Cowen Securities. "The jobless claims were a little better than expected and the leading indicators were right in line with expectations. That's benign enough for the market to move higher." Stocks have been gradually trending up for months now, with the Dow, Nasdaq, and regularly making new highs. Subodh Address juiscowr WW ThtWorM jNrwspapw In Education Home phone School phone All work must be received on or before Monday, September 29, 2003. Please send all submissions to The Record, NIE, 150 River Street Hackensack, NJ 07601.

Written submissions may be faxed to us at (201) 646-4010. www.therecordnla.com NIEnorthJertey.com ii in ii ill i i I I ll JUu 'vwmMiiiijMiinii mM--''mmmmrm Hosted by UhtUmvb EMlEiKIS SuburbanTrends FAIRJLEIGH DICKINSON SjfU NIVERSITY when Tuesday, September 30, 2003 where Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan Campus at the Rothman Center, Temple Hackensack time 9am-i 0am FREE Seminar Creative Job Search Startegies presented by Eli Amdur of Amdur Coaching 10am-3pm Registration Career Fair What yOU $7.00 Admission Fee, FDU students Free with ID need tO Bring several copies of your resume (hard copies or on disk) knOW Join Career Coach, Eli Amdur, for a FREE seminar from 9am to 10am All Career Fair advertising will publish in The Record, Herald News and Suburban Trends on Sunday, September 28th in the North Jersey Jobs section and on NorthJerseyJob3.com Visit these employers and more! Enterprise Nyack Hospital PSA Healthcare Rent-A-Car Palisades Medical St. Barnabas First Investors Corp. PCF Health Care US Postal Service Visiting Nurse Service Westfield Shopping Town AFLAC Atlas Healthcare Bassett Furniture Bergen Nursing Team Broadway House Care-One Cognisa Security System Trinitas Hospital Trust Company Bank US Navy Phoenix Executive Group Pitney Bowes PNC Bank Primerica Financial Jet Aviation Longaberger Morgan Funding NJ Juvenile Justice Commission RECRUITMENT with Call with questions or additional information 1 51 or 973563-7404 email jobsnorthj8rsey.com 4 I- Publications of North Jersey Media Group Classified Recruitment Department: 1 Garret Mountain Plaza PO Box 471 West Paterson, NJ 07424-0471.