Richard Parsons, who steadied Time Warner and Citigroup, dies at 76 : NPR

Richard Parsons is proven talking at Time Warner headquarters on June 15, 2009 in New York.

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Mark Lenihan/AP

NEW YORK — Richard Parsons, probably the most distinguished black executives in company America who held high positions at Time Warner and Citigroup, died Thursday. He was 76 years previous.

Parsons, who died at his dwelling in Manhattan, was recognized with a number of myeloma in 2015, and cited “sudden problems” from the illness to curtail his work a number of years later.

Monetary companies firm Lazard, the place Parsons was a longtime board member, confirmed his demise.

Parsons’ pal Ronald Lauder instructed the New York Instances that the reason for demise was most cancers.

Parsons resigned on December 3 from the board of administrators of Lazard and Lauder, Estée Lauder, for well being causes. He has been a member of the Estée Lauder Board of Administrators for 25 years.

“Dick was a Native American, a large straddling the worlds of enterprise, media, tradition, philanthropy and past,” Ronald Lauder stated in an announcement on behalf of the Lauder household.

David Zaslav, CEO of Time Warner’s successor to Warner Bros. Discovery, praised Parsons as a “nice mentor and pal” and a “sturdy and sensible negotiator, at all times trying to create one thing the place either side win.”

“Everybody who had the chance to work with him and knew him noticed this extraordinary mixture of nice management, integrity and kindness,” Zaslav stated, calling him “one of many biggest drawback solvers this trade has ever seen.”

Parsons, a Brooklyn native who started school at 16, has constructed a observe report of guiding main firms by tough occasions.

He returned Citigroup to profitability after the turmoil brought on by the worldwide monetary disaster Global financial crisis It helped restore Time Warner after its acquisition by web supplier America On-line.

Parsons was appointed to the CBS board in September 2018 however resigned a month later because of sickness.

Parsons stated in an announcement on the time that he was already coping with a number of myeloma when he joined the board, however “sudden problems created extra new challenges.” He stated that his docs suggested him to cut back his commitments to make sure his restoration.

“Dick’s profession embodies the best traditions of American enterprise management,” Lazard stated in an announcement. The corporate, of which Parsons was a board member from 2012 till this month, praised his “unmistakable intelligence and irresistible heat.”

“Dick was extra than simply an iconic chief in Lazard’s historical past — he was a testomony to how knowledge, heat and unwavering judgment can form not simply firms, however individuals’s lives,” the corporate stated. “His legacy lives on within the numerous leaders he mentored, the establishments he renewed, and the doorways he opened for others.”

Parsons was often known as a talented negotiator, diplomat, and disaster supervisor.

Though he was with Time Warner throughout its difficulties with AOL, he earned the corporate’s respect and rebuilt its relationships with Wall Avenue. He simplified Time Warner’s construction, decreased debt and bought Warner Music Group and a ebook publishing division.

He additionally beat off a problem from activist investor Carl Icahn in 2006 to interrupt up the corporate and helped Time Warner attain settlements with buyers and regulators over questionable accounting practices at AOL.

Parsons joined Time Warner as president in 1995 after serving as chairman and CEO of Dime Bancorp, one of many largest thrift establishments in the USA.

In 2001, after AOL used its fortunes because the main U.S. Web entry supplier to buy Time Warner for $106 billion in inventory, Parsons turned chief working officer with AOL CEO Robert Bateman. On this position, he was chargeable for the corporate’s content material enterprise, together with movie and recorded music studios.

He turned CEO in 2002 after the retirement of Gerald Levin, one of many key architects of the merger. Parsons was named chairman of Time Warner the next 12 months, changing AOL founder Steve Case, who additionally championed the group.

The corporate’s newly shaped Web division rapidly turned a legal responsibility for Time Warner. The promised synergy between conventional and new media has not materialized. AOL started seeing a decline in subscribers in 2002 as Individuals changed dial-up connections with broadband from cable TV and phone firms.

Parsons stepped down as CEO in 2007 and as chairman in 2008. A 12 months later, AOL spun off Time Warner and commenced buying and selling as a separate firm, after years of struggling to reinvent itself as an organization targeted on promoting and content material. Time Warner is now owned by AT&T Inc.

A member of the board of Citigroup and its predecessor Citibank since 1996, Parsons was appointed chairman in 2009 at a time of turmoil for the monetary establishment. Citigroup has suffered 5 consecutive quarters of losses and acquired $45 billion in authorities help. Its board has been criticized for permitting the financial institution to take a position closely within the dangerous housing market.

Citigroup returned to profitability underneath Parsons’ management, starting in 2010, and wouldn’t publish a quarterly loss once more till the fourth quarter of 2017. Parsons retired from that place in 2012.

In 2014, he served as interim CEO of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers till Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took over later that 12 months.

“Dick Parsons was an excellent chief, a transformational chief and a large within the media trade, who led with integrity and by no means backed down from a problem,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated.

Parsons, a Republican, beforehand labored as a lawyer for Nelson Rockefeller, the previous Republican governor of New York, and within the White Home underneath Gerald Ford. These early durations gave him a grounding in politics and negotiations. He was additionally an financial advisor to President Barack Obama’s transition group.

Parsons, whose love of jazz led to co-ownership of the Harlem Jazz Membership, additionally served as president of the Apollo Theater and the American Jazz Basis. He has held positions on the boards of administrators of the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition, the American Museum of Pure Historical past, and the Museum of Trendy Artwork in New York Metropolis.

Parsons performed basketball on the College of Hawaii at Manoa and earned his legislation diploma from Albany Legislation Faculty in 1971. He’s survived by his spouse, Laura, and their household.