Time Warner's stuck at a $16 stock share value, says Variety, and AOL is partly to blame.

Back in 2004, Google paid $1 billion for 5% of the 'Netco — putting a theoretical value of $20 billion on AOL. The streaming Live Aid concert was a hit. The much-maligned unit was hot again.

But since then it's continued to bleed subscribers. It announced another restructuring last month and no one has any idea if it will work. AOL is giving its service away for free to millions of subs as it shifts to a pure advertising model. No one thinks it's worth $20 billion now. But is it closer to $5 billion — or to $15 billion?

To sell off AOL, says Variety, Time Warner could give its CEO spot to Chief Operating Officer Jeff Bewkes (who's reportedly open to dropping AOL, Time Warner Cable, and the publishing division.

How would AOL do on its own? Does the unpopular company have a chance without TW paying the bills?

Time Warner's elevator stalls [Variety]

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