US media giant Time Warner reported Wednesday that it lost 16 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2008 amid massive writeoffs.
The company said it plunged into the red after taking 24.2 billion dollars' worth of writeoffs of the value of cable, publishing and AOL assets, reported dpa.
Revenues in the quarters slipped to 12.3 billion dollars, off 3 per cent, the New York-based company said. For 2009, Time Warner said it expected operating earnings to be flat.
"Were making progress at Time Warner toward our goals of becoming a more content-focused company and delivering increasing returns to our stockholders," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said.
"Despite the challenging economic environment, we achieved most of what we set out to do. Moving into 2009, we intend to build on these accomplishments," he added.
For the full year 2008 Time Warner revenues edged up by 1 per cent to 46.98 billion dollars, reflecting increases at the cable and networks segments, the company figures showed.