To the End of Time: The Seduction and Conquest of a Media Empire

A behind-the-scenes expose of the Time Warner media conglomerate explains how the merger came about, profiles the personalities involved, and provides an eye-opening look at the deals, intrigues, and machinations. 30,000 first printing. $30,000 ad/promo.

The ballyhooed merger of Time Inc., blue-chip publishing empire, and Warner Communications, high-flying pop entertainment conglomerate, was the biggest media merger ever and the last such highly leveraged deal in the booming 1980s. In a gossipy, juicy probe packed with details on the seamy side of Warner's business dealings, Clurman ( Beyond Malice ), a former Time Inc. journalist and executive, portrays top Warner honcho Steve Ross as a smooth-talking, seductive mogul with a checkered past who romanced Time's top management even as the fine print in the merger agreements punished stockholders and gave Warner a strong upper hand. Clurman focuses on the personalities, the disparate corporate cultures and the mixed results of the marriage thus far in a no-holds-barred inquiry that digs beneath the headlines to reveal the ills and challenges facing the new mega-empire. First serial to Vanity Fair; author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A thoughtful, thorough evaluation of the personalities and perceptions that led Time Inc. to join forces with Warner Communications. Clurman (a former Time insider) leaves little doubt that his erstwhile employer got the worst of the deal that created the world's largest media conglomerate. Drawing on personal contacts, documentary material, and allied sources, he recounts how the magazine/cable-TV empire floundered during the go-go 1980's. The frustrated Time brass proved no match for Steve Ross, a silky- smooth article who ran Warner's show-biz domain as if it were a personal fiefdom. For all his ingratiating suavity, though, Ross apparently had a checkered record as a manager, a notably glitzy lifestyle, a shady past, and other closeted skeletons--which Time directors all but ignored in their eagerness to consummate a union. (Clurman's coverage of these points seems certain to make news since it includes previously undisclosed and damning excerpts from a lengthy report on an inquiry, commissioned by the Warner board, into the role Ross played in a corruption scandal that led to the conviction of several of his closest associates.) At any rate, a stock-swap bargain was struck, which had to be ruinously revised when Time was obliged to fight off an all-cash tender from Gulf & Western. Under terms of the eventual accord, Warner investors fared extremely well, Time Inc. stockholders endured capital punishment, and the amalgamated enterprise staggered into an uncertain future with a crushing load of debt. Nor, Clurman makes clear, have prospects improved appreciably: co-CEO Ross alienated Main Street as well as Wall Street earlier this year with a decidedly dubious rights offering; hit movies have been hard to come by; and recession, adverse demographic trends, rival media, and in-house expedience have taken a terrible toll on the magazine group. An unsparing and altogether engrossing account of the awkward, one-way alliance that resulted when the gentlemanly heirs to a house that journalism built fancied they could do business on an equal footing with a latter-day Sammy Glick. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Time Warner was born out of a merger between Time Inc. and Warner Communications, resulting in the creation of arguably the largest media conglomerate in the world. How did these two giants find their way to the corporate altar? It is a fascinating story, and Clurman, a former Time writer, sets the stage by taking us back to when Henry Luce, Time Inc.'s founder, reigned supreme and how at his death in 1967, Time Inc. represented the pinnacle of American journalism. We also see the early beginnings of Steven Ross, the charismatic leader of Warner and later the CEO of Time Warner. Through extensive research as well as interviews with all the principals, Clurman presents the intrigue, the legal chicanery, the questionable antics of investment bankers anxious to "get the deal done," and the drive to get top dollar ostensibly for the sake of shareholders but in reality more for top executives and other corporate insiders. What was the price tag for all of this? At slightly over $14 billion with almost another $500 million in various banking, financial, and legal fees, it was the last major merger of the 1980s. To the End of Time is an informative, entertaining, and often compelling story. Recommended for all large business collections and journalism/media collections.
- Richard Drezen, Merrill Lynch Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.