While there were some bright spots in the media giant's third-quarter results, the release of the figures was overshadowed by reports in the New York Times that Dick Parsons, chairman and chief executive of Time Warner, and former chairman Steve Case, have been subpoenaed by US financial regulator the Securities & Exchange Commission as part of its investigation into the company's advertising deal with Bertelsmann.
Revenues at Time Warner, which dropped the AOL from its name last week, were up by 4% for the three months ending September 30 to $10.3bn (£6.1bn). Several divisions reported falls, including the struggling America Online and the music division. The filmed entertainment division, responsible for movies such as 'The Matrix Reloaded', was a surprise in delivering a disappointing result, with revenues down by 6.6% to $2.5bn.
Strong performing divisions were cable and networks, while the publishing division reported a small fall in revenue.
Looking forward to the full-year results, Time Warner said that it expected revenue growth in the mid-single digits, with a similar expectation for profit growth. Advertising revenue at America Online was expected to be down by between 35% and 45%, compared with last year's figure of $1.3bn.
Parsons said: "Taken together, our businesses are delivering very healthy year-over-year growth, and we are confident that our company will finish this year in a position to accelerate growth in 2004."
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