Time Warner Inc TWX
Q4 2011 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: Welcome to Time Warner Incorporated Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Christine and I will be your operator for today's conference. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Please note, today's conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Doug Shapiro, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for Time Warner. Sir, you may begin the call.

Doug Shapiro - IR: Thanks. This morning we issued two press releases, one detailing our results in the fourth quarter and full year and the other providing our 2012 business outlook.

Before we begin, there are two items I need to cover. First, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Schedules setting out reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and trending schedules. These reconciliations are available on our website at timewarner.com/investors. Reconciliations of our expected future financial performance are also included in the business outlook release that's available on our site.

Second, today's announcement includes certain forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by these statements due to various factors. These factors are discussed in detail in Time Warner's SEC filings, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Time Warner is under no obligation, and in fact, expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Thank you. I will turn the call over to Jeff.

Jeffrey L. Bewkes - Chairman and CEO: Good morning and thanks for listening in. We had a great fourth quarter, capping another great year. In 2011, we grew revenue 8%, that's our highest rate since 2003. We grew adjusted operating income 9% and we grew adjusted earnings per share 20%, exceeding our guidance. In fact, we've more than doubled our adjusted EPS over the last three years.

We had a strong year operationally too. We not only maintained our leading position across almost all of our businesses, in most cases we took share. We are at the vanguard of the industry in advancing the next generation of digital business models and we expanded our international presence. At the same, we significantly increased our returns to shareholders. We directed $5.6 billion to dividends and to stock repurchases, buying back 12% of our shares in just one year. In 2012, we plan to keep the momentum going. We'll drive to deliver double-digit growth in adjusted EPS again and we also just raised our dividend by 11% and announced a new $4 billion repurchase authorization.

We intend to achieve our financial goals, while remaining as focused as ever on our key strategic priorities; first, invest aggressively to create and acquire the best content; second, accelerate new business models that honest technology to improve the consumer experience, but in a way that supports our economics; third, expand internationally in key territories; and fourth, continuously work to improve both our operating and our capital efficiency.