The resignation of AOL Time Warner mogul Steve Case on January 12 leaves the company in dire need of a new leader. Those applying for the CEO's position should be prepared to run a troubled company with little prospect of quick recovery. To pull the company out of its slump, the succeeding CEO will face the challenge of bringing together two divergent sides of the merged company.
"[Steve Case] was never able to meld the AOL team with Time Warner," says Donald Moine, Ph.D., a psychologist who specializes in business and investment. "His vision is tied to what AOL was in the past, not what is needed in the current environment." The merging of the two companies fueled the recent and painful drop in stock prices that eventually resulted in Case's resignation. Most put the blame on AOL's shoulders.
Having a leader of an upstart tech company run an established entertainment empire brought the two disparate businesses cultures to the boardroom. "AOL had much more of a risk-taking, pioneering entrepreneurial bent, and Time Warner was much more established with policies and procedures," says Moine. "They were two very different cultures."
