| overview
holdings
warner
landmarks
related:
AOL
Warner Music
|
landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
Context is provided by the broader communications and
media timeline on this site.
antecedents
1903 four Warner brothers launch nickeloden
1905 Stanley and Jules Mastbaum launch cinema operation
1907 Warner brothers establish film distribution business
1912 move into production
1917 Warners have first major success with My 4 Years
In Germany
1918 brothers open their first West Coast Studio on Sunset
Boulevard
beginnings
1923 Time launched by Henry Luce & Britton
Hadden
1923 Warner Brothers incorporated
1925 Warners establish Vitaphone Co., begin experimental
sound pictures at Warner Vitagraph studio in Brooklyn
1926 Warners Don Juan, starring John Barrymore,
features music but no spoken dialogue
1927 Warners move Vitaphone to Hollywood, release Al Jolson's
The Jazz Singer
1930 Luce's Fortune magazine launched
1930 Warners buy Brunswick Records
1931 March of Time broadcast launched
1932 Luce buys Architectural Forum
1935 first Porky Pig cartoon from Warners animation
unit
1935 March of Time newsreel launched
1936 Life launched
1937 Detective Comics (DC) founded
1939 All-American Comics founded
1940 Bugs Bunny introduced by Warners
twilight of the American Century
1944 twilight of the Studio System, with court ruling
that Warners must release Olivia de Havilland after 7
year contract
1945 Warners increases stake in ABPC
to 37.5%
1947 Atlantic Records founded
1948 much of Warners film library sold to MGM
1948 Warner Bros considers buying ABC
network
1949 Warners ordered to divest cinema chain
1949 Warners begins to license cartoon characters to children's
clothing manufacturers
1949 Eliot Hyman founds Associated Artists Productions
1950 Elektra Records founded by Jac Holzman
1951 Time-Life buys KOB Albuquerque
1954 Sports Illustrated launched
1954 TLF Broadcasters Inc (later Time Life Broadcast Inc)
buys KLZ Denver radio station
1956 Harry and Albert Warner sells stake in Warner Bros
1957 Time-Life buys Indianapolis television station
1957 sells KOB Albuquerque to KSTP Inc
1957 buys WOOD-TV (later WLAV-TV and WOTV) Grand Rapids
1957 Stark and Hyman form Seven Arts Productions
1958 Warner Bros. Records founded
1963 Warners closes animation unit
1963 Warners buys Sinatra's ailing Reprise records
1965 Panavision purchased by Banner Productions for US$3.6m
conglomerates
1967 Jack Warner sells his stake in Warners to Seven Arts
for US$32m. Seven Arts merges with Warner Bros as Warner-Seven
Arts
1967 Atlantic records bought by Warner-Seven Arts
1967 National Periodical Publications merges with Kinney
to become parking-lot to funeral parlour conglomerate
Kinney National Services
1967 DC and All-American Comics bought by Kinney National
1967 Kinney buys Ashley Famous talent agency
1967 New Line Cinema founded
1968 Time buys Boston publishing house Little, Brown (founded
1837)
1968 Kinney National buys Panavision for US$10m
1969 Warner-Seven Arts acquired by Kinney National and
becomes Warner Communications
1970 Warner Music opens in Australia
1970 Warner Communications buys Elektra records
1970 Geffen founds Asylum label
1972 Time buys out Charles Dolan from Home Box Office
(HBO) cable tv network, Dolan establishes Cablevision
1972 Money launched
1972 Life ceases
1973 Time buys pulp and paper group Temple Industries
to form Temple-Eastex
1974 People launched
1976 Turner buys Atlanta Braves sports team
1976 Nolan Bushnell sells Atari to Warners for US$28m
1976 Turner's WTCG in Atlanta beamed via satellite to
US cable networks
1977 Turner buys Atlanta Hawks
1978 Time buys cable operator American Television & Communications
(ATC)
1978 Life relaunched as monthly (ceases 2000)
1979 Turner Communications Group becomes Turner Broadcasting
System, WTCG is renamed WTBS
1979 American Express buys half of Warner Communications
cable subsidiary Warner Cable for US$175m, forming Warner-Amex
Cable Communications
1980 CNN, world's first 24-hour all-news network
1981 Warner buys Franklin Mint from QVC founder Joseph
Segel
1982 Tri-Star Pictures formed by CBS
television, HBO and Columbia Pictures
1982 Warner sells stake in Claritas, formerly General
Analytics Corporation, to VNU
1983 sells WOOD-TV to LIN
1984 Time spins off Temple-Eastex and Inland Container
Corporation to form Temple-Inland
1984 Warner sells most of loss-making Atari to founder
of Commodore Computers
1984 Warner sells cosmetics business
1984 sells Panavision
1985 sells Franklin Mint to Resnick family
1985 Quantum Computer Services formed,
later renamed AOL
1985 Time buys Southern Progress group (founded 1886),
with Progressive Farmer (1886), Southern Living
(1966) and Oxmoor House (1969)
1985 Warner pays US$450m for American Express stake in
Warner-Amex cable operations
1985 Time buys Scott Foresman publishing group
the Turner Syndrome
1985 Laurence Tisch buys 25% of CBS
to thwart Turner bid
1986 Turner buys rights to MGM film library
1987 Warner buys Chappell Music publishing company from
Polygram for US$275m
1988 WEA buys Teldec records (Germany) and Magnet records
(UK)
1989 Time Warner created with Time's acquisition of Warner
Communications
1989 WEA buys CGD Records (Italy) and MMG Records (Japan)
1989 Scott, Foresman and Little, Brown sold to Murdoch's
Harper & Row
1989 Quantum renamed America Online
1990 Entertainment Weekly launched
1990 New Line Cinema launches art house division, Fine
Line Features
1990 WEA buys Carrere Disques (France)
1991 Chicago Tribune takes 10%
stake in AOL for US$5m
1991 Time Warner buys 50% of park manager Six
Flags Corp.
1991 Time Warner takes stake in Scandinavian broadcaster
SBS
1992 WEA buys Erato records (France)
1993 WEA buys Spanish DRO Group, Hungarian Magneoton label,
Swedish label Telegram Records, Continental Records in
Brazil and Finnish Fazer Musiiki
1993 Time Warner buys remaining 50% of Six Flags Corp
life online
1994 Time Warner launches Pathfinder magazine portal
1994 Warner/Chappell Music acquires CPP/Belwin, becoming
world's largest music publisher and largest publisher
of printed music
1994 Turner Broadcasting System, Castle Rock and New Line
Cinema merge
1994 Seagram buys 14.5% stake
in Time Warner
1994 AOL reaches 1 million subscribers and links to the
internet for the first time
1995 AOL buys WebCrawler, Ubique, ANS, Global Network
Navigator, WAIS, Medior, BookLink Technologies and NaviSoft
1995 Time Warner buys Houston Industries cable tv network
for $2.3bn
1995 Time Warner sells 51% of Six Flags Corp. to Boston
Ventures for US$1bn (debt and equity)
1995 WB Network launched
1995 AOL Germany
1996 US Telecommunications Act results in billions of
dollars of broadcast properties changing hands
1996 rest of Atari sold to Midway Games
1996 Time Warner takes over Turner Broadcasting System
1996 AOL buys games specialist ImagiNation Network
1996 AOL UK, AOL Canada and AOL France
1996 AOL launches Buddy List instant message feature for
AOL members and AIM instant message service for internet
users
1997 AOL chat rooms opened to advertisers
1997 Time Warner sells American Lawyer magazines
for US$63m
1997 sells Metrocolor London to Carlton
for £3.8m
1997 Justin Frankel develops Winamp MP3 tool, later creates
Shoutcast and Nullsoft
1998 AOL buys CompuServe and ICQ online messaging
1998 WEA buys 90% of Nuova Fonit Cetra, Italian record
and music publishing group
1998 AOL and Bertelsmann
launch AOL Australia
1998 forms AOL Latin America with Cisneros
1998 Time Warner sells stake in Six Flags Corp to Premier
Parks
1998 launches Teen People monthly magazine
1999 AOL buys Netscape, MovieFone, Spinner, Winamp, SHOUTcast
and DMS
1999 Time Warner Cable trials video-on-demand in Austin
and Tampa
1998 IPC buys UK Practical Parenting, Living
and Family Circle from Standbrook Publications
1999 AOL buys Frankel's Nullsoft for US$100m
2000 Time Warner buys Times Mirror Magazines from Tribune
Company, including Golf, Ski, Skiing, Field & Stream,
Yachting and other titles
2000 closes Life
2000 buys 49% of Essence Communications Partners
2000 AOL buys online travel information provider MapQuest
AOL Time-Warner merger
2000 AOL merges with Time Warner
2000 Frankel releases Gnutella
2001 global AOL subscribers surpass 30 million
2001 Asiaweek, Family Life and On
closed
2001 AOLTW announces plan to spend US$6.75bn buying Bertelsmann's
49.5% stake in AOL Europe
2001 buys IPC Magazines from Cinven for £1.15bn
2002 AT&T sells stake in Time Warner Cable
2002 AOLTW buys 15.3% of VIVA Media from EMI
2002 buys Warren Miller Films
2002 buys 50% of music publisher Deston Songs from edel
music AG
2003 Warner Bros sells stake in Australian cinema joint
venture (319 screens in 29 multiplexes) to AHL's
Greater Union and Village Roadshow
2003 'AOL' dropped from AOL Time Warner corporate name
unloading Warner Music
2003 Warner Music arm sold
to consortium led by Edgar Bronfman (former head of Universal)
for US$2.6bn
2003 Time Warner sells Time Inc direct marketing arm
2004 restarts Life as newspaper insert
2005 pays US$2.1bn to settle shareholder class action
over AOL takeover
2005 Google agrees to buy 5% of AOL for US$1bn
2006 CBS and Warner Brothers
Entertainment announcement that UPN and WB networks would
combine to form youth-oriented CW network
2006 Time Warner sells book publishing division (inc Warner
Books and Little, Brown) to Lagardere
for US$537.5m
2006 Time Warner buys Liberty
Media's 50% in Court TV joint venture for US$735m
2006 sells stake in Warner Bros theme park joint venture
in Australia to partner Village
Roadshow for $254m
2006 closes Teen People
2006 closes Family Circle in UK
2006 Adelphia's assets acquired
by Time Warner Cable and Comcast
2006 Time Warner Cable redeems Comcast's 17.9% interest
in Time Warner Cable Inc.
2006 Time Warner Entertainment (TWE) redeems Comcast's
4.7% interest in TWE
2006 announces plans to sell 18 magazine titles, including
Popular Science, Field & Stream,
Outdoor Life and Parenting
2006 Telecom Italia agrees to buy AOL's access business
in Germany for €675m
2006 Carphone Warehouse buys AOL's UK access business
for £370m
2007 Napster buys AOL Music Now online music service from
Time Warner for US$15m
2007 AOL abandons US$900m bid for web marketer TradeDoubler
2007 Time sells 18 magazines to Bonnier
2007 closes Life
2007 AOL pays US$275m for 'behavioral targeter' Tacoda
2007 Time closes Business 2.0
2007 AOL buys online advertising company Quigo for
US$350m
2008 IPC sells Practical Parenting to Magicalia
(est 1999)
2008 AOL pays US$850m for Bebo
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