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Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner cheif executive, said the company will complete an independent evaluation of AOL, which is expected in a number of months, but hinted that parting ways with AOL by creating a spin-off entity for discouraged stockholders, may be the best option.

It's been nearly a decade since AOL's dotcom glory days. During that period, the company has changed its business focus from internet to online advertising, and with the advent of its established Platform-A network, it could have what it takes to survive as a standalone entity.

Today, industry blog AllThingsD reported that AOL cheif executive Tim Armstrong is shaking up the management at the top of Platform-A as preparation for the spin-off.

Platform-A president Greg Coleman, who joined that company in February this year, is being replaced, likely by Google advertising executive Jeff Levick.

Nisha Kumar, Platform-A's chief financial officer, is also said to be out, with no replacement presently named.

Yesterday, AOL announced its overall Q1 revenue fell by 23 per cent, due to a 27 per cent decline in subscriptions and a 20 per cent fall in advertising. Pre-tax profits were also down 37 per cet.

Poor advertising revenue at AOL and its print subsidiary Time Inc is being blamed for burdening Time Warner's profit earnings in Q1, which fell 14 per cent from last year, while overall revenue dropped 7 per cent since Q1 2008.

As a result, speculation increased that Time Warner would look to spin-off AOL to appease stockholders, as it did with Time Warner Cable in March, as the company looks to rebrand itself as a traditional media company.

In March, AOL appointed former Google executive Tim Armstrong to lead the company, dismissing rumours that Time Warner was looking to sell AOL to rival websites Yahoo! or Microsoft, in which it would be better positioned to take a run at Google.

Instead, Time Warner believes AOL would be better off on its own, and is also looking to buy back the 5 per cent stake in the company Google bought in 2005, which Bewkes said would "provide us with much more flexibility with regard to AOL's structure going forward".