JP Morgan Says AOL Time Warner Debt Is Manageable

Communications Today, March 10, 2003

Investment firm JP Morgan on Friday advised that AOL Time Warner's [NYSE: AOL] $27 billion debt load is manageable, though the company lacks optimal financial flexibility. The firm believes the company should be able to maintain its credit rating of "BBB " if the media giant takes its cable operations public in the second or third quarter. If AOL Time Warner pushes its cable offering back to late 2003 or 2004, the company's debt rating would likely drop one notch to "BBB," the investment firm remarked.

This past week, AOL Time Warner revealed plans to sell $2 billion to $4 billion in assets to help pare debt and that an initial public offering of its cable unit could take place by the end of the second quarter or late summer. For more about this and other critical issues affecting the broadband industry, be sure to read the latest edition of Communications Today's sister publication Broadband Business Report. For details, visit http://www.telecomweb.com/cgi/catalog/info?BBN.

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