Gerald M. Levin was a corporate executive who helped create the Time Warner powerhouse by guiding the merger between Time Inc., and Warner Media before leading the disastrous merger between Time Warner and AOL.
- Died: March 13, 2024 (Who else died on March 13?)
- Details of death: Died in a hospital near Long Beach, California, at the age of 84.
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Gerald M. Levin’s legacy
The Philadelphia-born Levin joined Time Inc. after attending Haverford College and earning a degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He stayed with Time in its various incarnations for most of his career, building his legacy there. He began as a programming executive for Home Box Office (HBO), helping turn the small pay-for-view service into a well-respected giant in media.
Levin climbed to the role of Time’s chief strategist and was behind the company’s 1990 merger with Warner Media. The merger created Time Warner, then the largest media and entertainment company in the world. He also led the acquisition of companies like Turner Broadcasting, which included CNN.
A deal that did not fare as well was his 2000 sale of Time Warner to American Online Inc. (AOL). The move came at the peak of the Internet stock bubble. Several years later, as the bubble burst, it proved to be a modern disaster in business. He left AOL Time Warner in disgrace a few years after the merger, in 2002. In 2006, Levin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The AOL deal came shortly after the 1997 murder of his son, Jonathan, a high school English teacher who was killed by one of his students during a robbery. After Levin’s departure from AOL Time Warner, he presided over a few startups but largely disappeared from public life.
Notable quote
“I don’t just want to be known as the CEO of AOL Time Warner. … I’m my own person. I have strong moral convictions. I’m not just a suit. I want the poetry back in my life.”—from a 2001 interview for the Wall Street Journal Interview
Tributes to Gerald M. Levin
Full obituary: The Washington Post
