And Levin was quickly gone from the theater. But he won’t be forgotten any time soon. Yes, he can point to many successes during 30 years of presiding over Time Inc., Time Warner and, finally, AOL Time Warner. He’d led the launch of HBO, initiated the acquisition of Turner Broadcasting and supported a successful expansion of cable operations. But Levin, who declined an interview request, also mistakenly dismissed a number of able executives, created a dizzyingly complex corporate structure and pushed the acquisition of Time Warner by AOL, which used its inflated stock as currency just as the dot-com bubble was bursting.
So in the months since he abruptly announced his retirement, employees of the old Time Warner have grumbled bitterly about Levin’s last big deal. They’ve seen pay and 401(k) portfolios shrink along with AOL’s stock price. Their anger only deepened after Levin’s lavishly decorated New York apartment was recently featured in Architectural Digest. “It was as if he was saying, ‘I got mine, and you’re on your own’,” said one senior executive. Criticism like that should give Levin plenty of material if he wants to sing the blues.
