Time Warner said on Monday that Jeffrey Bewkes was named as chief executive of the world's biggest media-entertainment conglomerate as Richard Parson gives up that title while remaining chairman.
The appointment is effective January 1.
Bewkes currently serves as president and chief operating officer, and he will retain the title of company president.
Parsons had been named chairman in 2003 after becoming CEO in 2002 as the company's old guard retook control following a merger with America Online at the height of the dot-com boom.
He retained both jobs despite a growing movement in recent years to separate the posts of board chairman and top executive.
"Dick Parsons has done an outstanding job during his tenure as chief executive officer," said Robert Clark, who headed the board's nominating committee.
"The board is grateful for Dick's exceptional leadership in turning this company around and putting it on a solid foundation for the future. We look forward to working with Jeff Bewkes as he assumes the leadership of Time Warner going forward."
Bewkes, who came from the company's HBO cable channel, had been president and chief operating officer since 2006, and has been overseeing operations at publishing arm Time Inc., HBO, Turner Broadcasting, Warner Brothers, Time Warner Cable and AOL.
From 2002 through 2005, Bewkes headed Time Warner's entertainment and networks group.
Previously, Bewkes had been CEO at HBO where he was credited with building it into a profit driver for the company with original programming, movies and sports.
Bewkes has a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University and an MBA degree from Stanford University.
In 2006, Time Warner's profit more than doubled to 6.55 billion dollars after the world's biggest media-entertainment group offloaded a range of assets.
But the company has seen its shares stagnate in recent years well below the level of the time of the AOL merger as it took a hit from the declining fortunes of what had been the Internet sector leader.
In recent years earnings have been driven by cable and network television along with its Hollywood productions as it has reshaped AOL from a largely paid service provider to a "portal" like Yahoo or Google.
Parsons had publicly backed Bewkes as his replacement at the New York-based company, which has diverse interests in Web properties, film, cable, TV networks and publishing.
Although Parsons has been credited with recent initiatives to stem AOL's plunging value since its merger with Time Warner in January 2001, many on Wall Street hope a change of guard will finally cut loose the underperforming business.
Deutsche Bank reiterated a buy rating on Time Warner shares saying that a likely shift to Bewkes as CEO on January 1, "could lead to a strategic realignment of assets."
Oppenheimer analysts said Parsons's departure is "a positive for the stock because his successor Jeff Bewkes will likely be more aggressive at restructuring the company."
The analysts said Bewkes may be less sentimental about selling or spinning off divisions, such as publishing, or reducing the current 84.5 percent stake in its cable systems unit.
