Dick Parsons, CEO of Time Warner Inc., will leave the company on Jan. 1, leaving just three African Americans at the helm of major U.S. corporations. E. Stanley O’Neal resigned as Merrill Lynch CEO last week after staggering money losses connected with investment in the subprime mortgage industry.
Parsons, who is 59 years old, will stay on as chairman of the world’s largest conglomerate.
He had taken over in 2002, just as the company was reeling in the aftermath of its disastrous decision to be acquired by AOL. A former lawyer and skilled negotiator, he helped restore the company’s stature and rebuild its relations with Wall Street. Parsons, one of the most prominent black executives in corporate America, has spent much of his tenure repairing the damage from Time Warner’s combination with AOL in 2000.
The company’s stock went on a downward spiral from the $47 level it saw in January 2001, when the deal closed, and stayed under $20 a share until late last year.