Remember AOL Time Warner's "aggressive financial goals"? The ones AOL dismissed about 1,700 employees to meet? Forget 'em.

Not surprisingly, AOL-TW said the Sept. 11 attacks set it back, and that the company won't reach its hoisted revenue targets for 2001. Sounds like a convenient excuse, but the Wall Street Journal explained some cause and effect. Some media properties pulled ads in the wake of the attacks, the Warner Bros. movie studio "indefinitely postponed" the release of another Schwarzenegger flick about terrorism and vengeance, and the cost of running news sources such as CNN and Time just skyrocketed. That said, Grok apologizes for the 14 zillion times we clicked on CNN.com this month.

Then there's that ad market, which was anemic long before 9-11. "Ever since America Online agreed to acquire Time Warner early last year, executives from the companies have trumpeted their relative independence from advertising," noted Seth Schiesel of the New York Times, but those same execs are now blaming the ad slump for their missed targets. AOL claims that subscriptions are its bread and butter, said the Times, even though advertising accounts for 24 percent of revenue. That's the highest percentage of any big, public media company other than Vivendi - another business that has seen healthier days.

Partly because Vivendi and other media companies have already warned, the media agreed that AOL's announcement wasn't shocking. (Except the New York Post, which said it "comes as a surprise, as AOL's leaders have bullishly predicted throughout the year that the company would meet its targets.") Pundits did wonder what's up for AOL in 2002, since AOL offered only short-term guidance and long-term vagueness. Give it a week, though, and we're sure someone will come up with a Nostradamus quote on the subject.

AOL warns of earnings shortfall (Reuters)
CNET

AOL Time Warner Won't Meet Hopes, Blames Terror Attacks, Ad Slowdown
The Wall Street Journal
(Paid subscription required.)

AOL Time Warner Won't Make Numbers
New York Post

AOL Time Warner Cuts Its Earnings Forecast
Washington Post

AOL, Blaming Terrorist Attacks, Lowers Outlook
New York Times
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False Prophecy
Snopes