Warner Music's Hitting a High Note

Warner's resurgence comes as its former parent is in the crosshairs of investor Carl Icahn, who has taken to complaining that management isn't doing enough to rouse the media giant's torpid stock. His latest barrage against Dick Parsons and company, due as early as this week, is expected to hammer away on the terms of the Warner Music deal and the slow pace of transition at AOL.

Though Bronfman and his group have seemingly put Warner Music on the right track, some investors still think Time Warner made the right choice in bidding adieu to the music business.

"Music is not part of Time Warner's core," says Peter Jankovskis, director of research at OakBrook Investments, which owns some 100,000 shares in Time Warner. "Given ongoing problems with file-sharing and CD piracy abroad, it may prove to have been a smart move."

The challenge for Bronfman is to prove those problems aren't too big to overcome.