Creating an Entertainment Giant : Voices

“I’m tired of being little all the time and I’m looking forward to having muscle on our bones.”

--Ted Turner

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“This is far and away the dream deal.”

Gerald Levin, Chairman, Time Warner Inc.

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“We are deply troubled by the process that guided this decision and particularly by the apparent preferential treatment afforded to one shareholder [TCI] to the detriment of all the others.”

Statement released by Comcast Corp. and Continental Cabelevision Inc., which have seats on the Turner board.

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“Gerald Levin has won this round.”

--Harold Vogel, entertainment analyst, Cowen & Co.

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“[Levin] got himself out of the frying pan. The only way he could lose is if he didn’t do a deal. Then he would have struck out in trying to sell his stake in Turner and in trying to buy the rest of the company. Now he’s in a position where he can’t lose.”

--Dennis McAlpine, analyst, Josephthal Lyon & Ross

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“While our position is passive, we look forward with high confidence about our continuing investment in this great company.”

John Malone, Chairman, Tele-Communications Inc.

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“Management at Time Warner has failed to capitalize on being, for five years, the biggest media company in the world.”

--Porter Bibb, investment banker, Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co., whose clients own stock in Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting

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“I would be against any one dominant communications giant. ... We would have to thoroughly explore ... undue concentration [in this deal], especially in the cable area.”

--James H. Quello, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

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“This is a horrendous deal for every consumer in America.”

--Jeff Chester, director, Center for Media Education, a Washington consumer group