Brendan McDermid
Time Warner is rebranding itself in the wake of its merger with telecom giant AT&T. In an internal memo to staff, new company head John Stankey said that Time Warner—the parent company of media and entertainment brands including HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros.—would be renamed WarnerMedia. Stankey said the company decided to change its name because of longtime confusion about which brands fell under Time Warner. “The simple answer is that it creates confusion amongst our stakeholders who never learned to distinguish between Time Warner, the media company, and Time Warner, the former cable company,” he wrote. “Our consumer research suggests this confusion isn't going away any time soon. So, it is easier and more economical to change the name, than invest in advertising to resolve the confusion.” The new media company chief said WarnerMedia settled on WarnerMedia after it “tested very well externally as a naming convention.”
- Maxwell Tani