Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Sharp Focus at Time Warner

Click here for an archive of Cramer's "Mad Money" recaps.

---

Because cable represents "the hottest of the hot," funds desperately want to be in Time Warner (TWX Quote), Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday.

A lot of people had given up on Time Warner, said Cramer, and market players thought it was "caught up in too many agendas." But then CEO Dick Parsons surprised everyone when the company unloaded 18 of its magazines.

"The triple play [packaging digital cable, digital phone and broadband services together] in the Time Warner business is two thumbs up," Cramer said. "I realize that it is in a major turnaround, and Dick Parsons deserves the credit."

Time Warner's latest quarterly results were great, and the "show stealer" here was AOL, he said.

Cramer welcomed Parsons to his show, and in a satellite interview, congratulated him for his company's recent success.

"There are 87,000 of my colleagues that did it, and I just have the privilege of leading the company," Parsons said. "We hope to keep it up."

There are three things going on at the company, Parsons said.

First, regarding the turnaround and the perception of cable, Parsons said Time Warner probably has the best cable company in America. He believes the triple play is working, and the cable company is "poised to fly."

Second, the company's new strategy at its AOL unit is based on an advertising-based model, as opposed to a subscription-based model, and all of the initial indications signal to management that the change is working.

Finally, Time Warner has bought back 16% of the company in the past 10 months, Parsons said.

When Cramer asked if Carl Icahn, a major shareholder of Time Warner has helped shareholders, Parsons said, "Carl gets some of the credit."

Icahn, an activist shareholder, made Parsons "listen more deeply to the other shareholders," Parsons said. "They encouraged me to be more aggressive in terms of the stock buyback, which is helping us now."