Time Warner's fourth-quarter net income slid 41% as gains last year hurt comparisons. Time Warner largely met expectations for the quarter, driven by popular movies like the most recent "Harry Potter" edition and "I Am Legend."

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, net income declined to $1.03 billion, or 28 cents a share, from $1.75 billion, or 44 a share a year earlier, which was lifted by the sale of several AOL Internet-access businesses in Europe.

Excluding one-time items in the most recent quarter, net income was 29 cents a share, matching the average estimate of analysts, according to Thomson Financial. Revenue rose 2.4% $12.6 billion, roughly in line with analyst estimates.

Top on the agenda are Time Warner's 84% stake in Time Warner Cable Inc., which the parent company is expected to reduce or eliminate over time, and its AOL unit, which many expect will be spun off or sold.

While not giving specifics, CEO Bewkes said Wednesday in a statement that Time Warner will "intensify our creative and entrepreneurial focus to move our businesses ahead more quickly. We'll aggressively control costs to help fund our investments in future growth. And we'll actively manage our balance sheet to deploy capital to the best advantage of our shareholders."

Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday the media giant plans to separate AOL's Internet-access business and is in discussions to potentially reduce its holdings in the company's cable affiliate.

His comments, coming in Mr. Bewkes' first earnings conference call as CEO, lay outs a broad blueprint of his priorities to transform the media giant. Mr. Bewkes assumed the CEO post at the beginning of the year, and is under pressure to quickly push through a restructuring of the company and lift Time Warner's stock price.

Mr. Bewkes also said the company will look to aggressive cost cuts, including an initial slash of corporate spending by more than 15% and a cost reduction at Time Warner's New Line film studio. Mr. Bewkes questioned whether it makes sense to have separate infrastructures for the company's Warner Brothers and New Line film studios.

A split also could be a precursor to combining pieces of AOL with another online company. Such a transaction could make AOL more viable against competitors Google Inc. and a potential combined Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

Mr. Bewkes also signaled ongoing talks to reduce Time Warner's 84% stake in its Time Warner Cable Inc. He said he expected more definite plans for cable by the time Time Warner reports first quarter earnings by the end of April.