What do Disney, Time Warner, and NBCUniversal all have in common? They're all media conglomerates. But what is conglomeration?
In Mr. Miller's lesson, I learned about what conglomeration really is. It's different than a corporation because corporations are just one company and/or brand. However, conglomerates are sometimes referred to as "umbrella corporations". Some companies even choose to use the term in the place of conglomerate to make them sound less far-reaching. A real-world example is Alphabet, Inc., best known for being the owner of Google. They go by the term "umbrella corporation", although they act as a conglomerate in almost every way.
Conglomerates are often formed and reformed depending on financial situations. A good example is Time Warner. Despite its name, Time Warner actually does not own Time Warner Cable, and actually hasn't since 2009. It started in 2001, when Time Warner and America OnLine (AOL) merged to form AOL Time Warner. In 2009, the companies split, becoming Time Warner and AOL again (AOL is owned by Verizon as of 2016). Executive Jeff Bewkes says the merger was "the biggest mistake in corporate history". Time Warner also spun off their cable company, Time Warner Cable (TWC), for financial reasons. Now, TWC is owned by Charter.
Conglomerates are almost always populist as a whole. They care about profits more than anything else, which leads to the elimination of unpopular media. Only certain niche, elitist media survive.
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