Draft:Warner Communications

Steven Ross and Kinney Services

The Riverside Memorial Chapel (Upper West Side location) was one of two companies that led to the founding of Kinney National

Kinney Services was formed through a four-way merger that primarily involved Riverside Memorial Chapel and Kinney Parking System. Riverside Memorial, an American-Jewish funeral chain founded in 1897, was run by the Rosenthal Family for much of its history, with Edward Rosenthal serving as its President during the 1950s when it was still an independent.^[16][17] Kinney Parking, a once well-known parking lot firm, was founded by Manny Kimmel in 1945, and was later ran by his son, Caesar Kimmel. After Steve Ross married into the Rosenthal Family in 1954, he joined the Upper West Side's Riverside Chapel as a funeral director.

By 1958, Steve and Edward were approached by Abe Silverstein about creating a rental car business and the three established Abbey Rent-A-Car, with Riverside providing financing. Abbey enjoyed unsuccessful operations and by 1959, Edward suggested liquidating the company. To avoid this, Steve and Abe met with Caesar Kimmel in 1960 and formed an agreement in which Abbey would be rebranded as Kinney Rent-A-Car, with Kinney Parking receiving a partial stake in return.^[18] Steve Ross was usually credited as Kinney Renting's founder, but it was actually Abe Silverstein who established the company as mentioned in his autobiography.

Although Kinney Renting continued facing financial hurdles, its status as a joint venture led executives from Riverside and Kinney to conclude that it would better preform as publicly traded company. This idea led to Kinney Renting and Kinney Parking to merge, though this changed once Edward included his family businesses, Riverside Memorial and City Serving Cleaning Contractors. The merger closed on December 26, 1961, with Kinney Service Corporation's establishment. Steve Ross was appointed its President and CEO, Edward Rosenthal its Chairman, and Morton Rosenthal and Caesar Kimmel as its Vice Presidents. Kinney Services went public in April 1962 under the ticker symbol, KRS, after its initial public offering.^[19] During the 1960s, Kinney Services acquired a multitude of service companies and became the largest American service conglomerate. As Kinney expanded as a corporation, so did its executive count, with numerous directors and executives joining like Paul and Seymour Milstein. When Kinney Services merged with National Cleaning Contractors in 1966, it renamed itself to Kinney National Service (KNS), with William V. Frankel and Morton Sweig also joining as executives.^[20][21][22]

Pivot to Media

In the late 1960s, Kinney National began diversifying into the entertainment sector after purchasing National Periodical Publications, Ashley-Famous, and Panavision, Inc.^[23][24] A noteworthy purchase done by Kinney National was its acquisition of the stagnant Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. By mid 1971, Kinney National (once again called Kinney Services) sold its funeral businesses to Service Corporation International and spun off its remaining non-media businesses into National Kinney Corporation. Kinney Services retained a 50% stake in National Kinney for the next several years. Kinney Services also purchased several cable companies and would later develop a division known as Global Soccer Inc. Following recommendations from its shareholders in December 1972, Kinney Services reincorporated as Warner Communications on February 10, 1972, renaming itself after Warner Bros.

Early Operations

Quick facts

Evolution of WBD

1877	Bell Telephone Company and the Bell System are founded.
1885	AT&T Corporation is created
1886	National Cleaning Contractors is established.
1897	Meyer's Livery Stable and the Vitagraph Studios are founded
1899	AT&T merges with Bell Telephone and gains control of the Bell System.
1913	AT&T and the U.S. Justice Department reach an agreement through the Kingsbury Commitment.
1917	First National Pictures is founded
1922	Time Inc. and its namesake Time Magazine are founded
1923	Warner Bros. Pictures is founded.
1925	Warner Bros. acquires Vitagraph Films and rechristens it as Vitaphone.
1928	Warner Bros. and The Stanley Company announce a merger.
1929	Warner Bros. acquires Stanley and Gains a vast theater chain and control of First National Pictures.
1933	Meyer's & Company splits into Riverside Memorial Chapel and Parkwest Chapels.
1944	The cartoon division of Warner Bros. acquires Leon Schlesinger Productions and gain Looney Tunes and the Merrie Melodies.
1945	Kinney Parking System is founded
1948	Following Supreme Court approval, the Paramount Decree goes into effect, forcing film studios to divest ownership of their theater chains.
1956	Warner Bros. sells its entire pre 1950 film library to Associated Artists
1961	Kinney Parking and Riverside Memorial are brought under Kinney Service Corporation.
1965	Turner Broadcasting System is incorporated in Georgia (U.S. State).
1967	Warner Bros merges with Seven Arts Productions to form Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Kinney National acquires National Periodical Publications, the predecessor to DC Comics.
1969	Kinney National purchases Warner Bros.-Seven Arts and retires the Seven Arts branding.
1971	Kinney National sells its funeral companies to Service Corporation.
1972	Kinney National rebrands as Warner Communications and spins off National Kinney Corporation.
1973	Time Inc. acquires Home Box Office.
1976	The Justice Department files an antitrust lawsuit to break apart AT&T.
1982	AT&T agrees to divest itself of the Bell System. Cable Network Education is also founded.
1983	Control Video Corporation is founded. It later became Quantum Computer Services in 1985.
1986	Turner Broadcasting acquires MGM/UA, but later sells it and uses parts of it to create Turner Entertainment
1987	Warner Communications and Time Inc. enter merger discussions
1989	Warner Communications and Time Inc merge and form Time Warner.
1991	Quantum Computer renames itself to America Online
1993	Turner Broadcasting acquires Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line
1994	Cable Network Education reincorporates as Discovery
1996	Time Warner acquires Turner Broadcasting System.
2000	AOL and Time Warner merge.
2001	AOL Time Warner is established, but the merger is ultimately unsuccessful.
2003	AOL Time Warner renames itself back to Time Warner.
2005	AT&T is acquired by SBC Communications, and the combined company becomes AT&T Inc.
2009	Time Warner spins off AOL
2014	Time Warner spins off Time Inc.
2015	AT&T purchases DirecTV.
2018	AT&T purchases Time Warner after a prolonged legal battle. The company is renamed to WarnerMedia.
2019	AT&T dissolves Turner Broadcasting
2020	HBO Max is launched
2021	AT&T spins off DirecTV and announces plans to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc.
2022	Warner Bros. Discovery is created
2025	Warner Bros. Discovery agrees to be acquired by Netflix, Inc. Paramount Skydance launches a hostile takeover.
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Close

When Warner Communications was founded, its top executives included Steve Ross (President and Co-CEO), William V. Frankel (Chairman and Co-CEO), Caesar Kimmel (Vice-President), and Edward (Vice-Chairman) and Morton Rosenthal (Vice President). In late 1972, the company transferred from 10 Rockefeller Plaza to the renowned 75 Rockefeller Plaza. It also held stakes in National Kinney Corp and Garden State National. Saul Bass was the designer of the "Big W" logo. Among Warner's owned businesses were Warner Bros. Inc, Global Soccer Inc., Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, Panavision, National Periodical, Television Communications Corp, Warner Books, and Willaims Publishing. Warner Communications provided funding that led to the launch of the Ms. Magazine. On June 31, 1972, William V Frankel died, and his executive titles were transferred to Steve Ross on July 20, 1972, leaving him as the sole Chairman, President, and Chief Executive.^[25][26] The New York Times described Kinney National's reincorporation as Warner Communications as "One of the most dramatic corporate metamorphoses." saying "in one decade, it has gone from coffins and car rentals to the dazzling frontier of cable television." ^[27] During the 1971 Fiscal Year, Warner Communications had revenues of $373,840,000 and ranked 294th on the Fortune 500 (1971). In 1973, Warner Communications introduced the Warner Cable brand. At the time, it was the second largest American cable company by subscribers.^[28]

Warner Communications acquired ownership of Atari Inc. in 1976

Sports & Gaming Ventures

Warner Communications previously purchased the Cosmos for $25,000 in 1971 and invested hundreds of millions into the team. A statement from Warner stated, “We are an entertainment company, and we feel that the field of sports is part of entertainment.” Due the company's revenues, it had the funding to sign some of the most well-renowned soccer players such as Pele.^[29] In 1976, Warner Communications acquired the privately held Atari, Inc for 28 million in cash and debt.^[30] As the video game industry took off in the 1970s, Warner enjoyed heavy returns with Atari. National Periodical rebranded itself as DC Comics in 1977 and Warner Cable launched its QUBE system. After previous attempts to divest itself of National Kinney Corp, Warner Communications sold its stake in 1978, ending its last ties towards the service sector. Warner Communications' short lived European publishing division, Williams Publishing, was dissolved in 1979. During 1980, Warner had to spin off Garden State National as existing laws prevented it from continuing to own the bank.

Through Warner Cable, Warner Communications formed a joint venture with American Express known as Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment. This company would launch cable channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1. Warner Communications purchased The Franklin Mint, to expand its presence in the consumer products sector. Warner Communications purchased itself a stake in the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1973.

Financial Troubles and Investigations

Beginning in 1983, Warner Communications entered into turbulent times after it suffered extensive losses through its Atari division after the Video Game Crash of 1983. Warner Communications divested a portion of Atari into Atari Corporation and sold several other businesses to reverse its losses. Warner Communications also avoided a takeover attempt from News Corporation. Around this time, most Kinney era executives had retired from Warner Communications, which left Steve Ross as the Company's longest serving executive.