http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/business/stories/tbsjapan.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
TOKYO (Reuter) - Japan's Toshiba and Itochu said Friday they would take stakes worth up to $800 million in Time Warner Inc., which is bidding to expand its entertainment empire with an $8 billion takeover of Turner Broadcasting System Inc.
Electronics company Toshiba, and Itochu, one of Japan's biggest trading houses, both said they would use the tie-up to expand their interests in multimedia and entertainment. Toshiba makes a range of communications and television hardware.
``This wider range of involvement will enable Toshiba to seek various multimedia business projects toward the 21st century,'' Toshiba said in a statement.
Itochu said the three companies would expand their cooperation in fields such as publishing and music and participate in ``many, various'' projects. It did not elaborate.
The Japanese companies will swap their 5.61 percent stakes in Time Warner Entertainment for preferred stock in Time Warner Inc., which is convertible into common stock.
Toshiba said it would receive either eight million preferred shares worth $800 million, or seven million of those shares plus $10 million in cash. It said this would give it a stake in Time Warner Inc. of roughly 3 percent, but declined to say when it would choose between the options.
Itochu said it would take preferred Time Warner Inc. shares worth $800 million.
TWE, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., is involved in movies, cable television and supplying TV programming. Under a restructuring plan, TWE in the future will concentrate on cable television, and its movie and TV programming businesses will move to the parent Time Warner.
Itochu and Toshiba linked up with Time Warner Inc. in 1991, and helped to set up TWE in June 1992.
Industry analysts in Tokyo saw the deal as positive for the Japanese firms' efforts to expand their presence in multimedia, but said the financial gains would be limited.