After yesterday’s full court press from AOL executivs, Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons discussed the bigger picture at Time Warner during his appearance at the Communacopia conference.  Much of the discussion was centered around the corporate transition and corporate structure (always popular themes at Time Warner), as Parsons was repeatedly pressed about what units he might or might not be willing to spin off.  At AOL (NYSE: TWX), the plan is to stay focused on the latest restructuring, as there’s no plans to sell the unit or spin it off through an IPO (at least not yet).  He shot down the suggestion that an independent AOL (with its own stock) would have a valuable currency to acquire more properties (traffic), but instead insisted that AOL (in its new incarnation as an ad network) stood to benefit from close proximity to the rest of Time Warner’s internet assets. 

Traffic also is the reason the company isn’t in any hurry unload AOL’s internet access subscribers, since these subscribers still account for nearly half of the pageviews on AOL properties.  He did suggest, however, that at some point in the next year or so, the company might look to unload that business in some way, although there’s no obvious buyer for it.  On the subject of AOL’s new strategy, Parsons said the game was “theirs to lose”, noting the size of Advertising.com and the breadth of Time Warner’s internet properties, which he felt gave the company the needed scale to compete successfully in this business.

The tone was very similar when discussing other aspects of the business.  While the company may fully spin off Time Warner Cable, it’s not in any particular hurry to do so, particularly as the industry is undergoing a lot of change.  On a personal level, Parsons is taking steps to pass the baton, but there’s no reason to rush the transition, particularly as the company is in the midst of so much change elsewhere.