Jeff Bewkes, who became chief executive of Time Warner in January, wants to turn the sluggish conglomerate into a more efficient, content-focused media giant in an effort to revive a moribund stock price.

The first big step came today as Bewkes announced that Time Warner would completely separate its cable business, giving up its 84 percent stake in Time Warner Cable.

The cable business has been a strong performer. In the first quarter, cable-service revenue climbed 8 percent.

Paul Greene, media analyst at T. Rowe Price Associates, told Bloomberg News: "If you separate out cable, the content business is cheap. If they get cash from cable and use that to buy back shares of the parent company, that's very accretive.''

The other main element of a structural overhaul at Time Warner will be a decision on AOL. The company has talked to Yahoo about a possible merger with AOL, but that outcome seems unlikely. A sale of AOL is possible, but made difficult by the continued deterioration in its subscription business. AOL subscription revenue tumbled 38 percent in the quarter.

AOL again was a drag on Time Warner's first-quarter earnings, which fell 36 percent from the quarter a year ago.

The company earned $771 million, or 21 cents per share, from $1.2 billion, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter when Time Warner had gains from the sale of AOL's internet business in Europe and from the dissolution of a partnership with Comcast.

Overall revenue rose 2 percent, to $11.4 billion, led by gains in cable, television networks, and films.