Company Town : Time Warner to Wave Goodby to 51% of Six Flags : Deals: But the agreement with Boston Ventures doesn’t include the theme parks’ CEO.

Time Warner Inc., moving to shave its $15-billion debt load, confirmed Monday that it plans to sell 51% of its Six Flags theme park operation in a $1-billion deal with an investment group headed by Boston Ventures.

But in a major surprise, the deal does not include Six Flags Chief Executive Robert W. Pittman, who sources say pulled out over the weekend following a disagreement over how much equity he would get in the company. They said Pittman also had second thoughts about committing to stay with Six Flags for another five years, as would have been required.

The Pittman development was especially surprising because the former MTV executive, credited with building the music channel in the early 1980s, was responsible for putting the Six Flags deal together over the last few weeks with the blessing of Time Warner Chairman Gerald M. Levin. Indeed, sources say, Pittman was originally asked to stay with Six Flags for seven years as part of the deal.

Pittman, 41, who had been a favorite of the late Time Warner Chairman Steve Ross, engineered a turnaround at the parks after Time Warner became sole owner more than three years ago. Last year, he raised his personal profile by starring in ads for the parks. Two years ago, Pittman triggered a public spat between Time Warner and Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner, who took offense at ads for Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia that lampooned Disneyland.

A spokesman for Pittman said he plans to stay with the company until October or November but has no specific job lined up after that. No successor has yet been named.

The Six Flags deal itself had been expected and follows weeks of rumors that Time Warner was considering selling part--or even all--of its theme park operation to ease its debt. The company has 10 parks nationwide.

Boston Ventures, an investment group that formerly held a majority stake in the Motown record label, will pay Time Warner $200 million in cash and assume $800 million in debt. Analysts, who have expressed concerns about the company’s debt levels, praised the deal.

The Six Flags deal, along with some smaller moves, brings to $1.1 billion the amount of debt the company has arranged to cut as part of its stated goal of slashing debt by $2 billion to $3 billion. Cutting the debt is considered especially critical because Time Warner is expected to take on an additional $3.5 billion in debt when it formally acquires two cable operations later this year. However, Time Warner executives stress that the company will also be acquiring about $800 million in cash flow with those deals.

Under the Six Flags deal, the theme parks will continue on an aggressive growth strategy, according to the company. The parks will also continue to promote Warner Bros. movies and the studio’s characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Batman.

Despite being a minority partner, Time Warner is expected to have a major say in management. Robert Daly and Terry Semel, who are the co-chairmen of Warner Bros., were tapped to oversee Time Warner’s remaining 49% interest in the parks.

The announcement on Six Flags came in tandem with the release of Time Warner’s better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

As part of that announcement, Time Warner, in its first detailed account on the start-up costs for its fledging WB broadcast network, said it recorded a $21-million loss in the first quarter stemming from the launch of the network Jan. 11.

Time Warner’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--the yardstick most analysts use in evaluating the company because of its huge debt load--rose to $681 million from $639 million a year earlier.

After interest payments on its debt, the New York media and entertainment giant said its net loss was $47 million, down from $51 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue was up 12% to $3.89 billion from a year earlier.

Bear Stearns analyst Raymond Katz said the results came in a bit higher than expected and that the company’s music results were better than expected.

In addition to the Six Flags deal, the company wants to sell its 21% stake in Turner Broadcasting System. Talks with Tele-Communications Inc., which has the right of first refusal to buy the stake, are said to be going slowly.

Time Warner’s debt load is the reason most analysts have discounted any talk that Time Warner might buy back Seagram Co.’s nearly 15% stake in the company now that Seagram has agreed to buy 80% of MCA for $5.7 billion. Levin said Monday the company will not be buying Seagram’s stock.