Thanks Xpfreak and VaxoP. Media giant AOL Time Warner has reported one of the highest quarterly losses in history, after making a record $54bn (£37bn) write-down - reducing the book value of assets the company owns.
AOL Time Warner is a sprawling media giant, with interests ranging from cable channels like CNN to Time magazine and film studios making box office hits like Harry Potter.
The write-down at AOL reflects the decline of the value of its holdings since the bursting of the dot.com bubble two years ago.
The write-down, which had been expected, is equal to the gross national products of countries such as Uruguay or Bulgaria.
AOL paid $106.2bn for Time Warner in 2000.
While the business attracted 1.4 million members worldwide during the quarter, taking its total subscriber base to 34.6 million, weak advertising revenues hit revenues.
"The weakness of the Internet advertising business is still a challenge," said chief executive Doc Parsons, revealing it had division boss Bob Pittman would "tackle the issue directly".
"Nobody knows more than Bob about marketing in the media business," Mr Parsons added.
"He will build on America Online"s powerful foundation to make sure it achieves its full potential as the strongest brand on the internet."
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