Time Warner, under pressure by a financier, expects its earnings ...

earlier forecasts. As much as 40% of that will be free cash flow, the media giant said “in anticipation” of an investor presentation set for late Tues. by Entertainment & Networks Group Chmn. Jeffrey Bewkes. Carl Icahn, who wants the firm restructured, and allies in a group of investment funds plan to nominate at least one person as a director at Time Warner’s next annual meeting. The group, which owns about 2.6% of the stock, cited a share price decline under CEO Richard Parsons and “noted that there were no shareholder-nominated directors on the board when Time Warner made the egregious error of undertaking the AOL transaction,” Icahn said in an SEC filing late Mon. Time Warner is “carefully reviewing a range of options to increase the value of our company, including those proposed by Mr. Icahn and his group,” it said in a statement to us. The firm’s annual meeting will occur in May, a spokeswoman said. Icahn’s demand that Time Warner spin off Time Warner Cable was echoed by Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Richard Greenfield. In a client note titled “eBay’s acquisition of Skype is Negative for Cable Industry; TWX Should Deconsolidate Cable Now,” Greenfield said the firm should separate cable from the rest of its operations “sooner rather than later.” The firm has said it plans to spin off some of its cable unit after buying Adelphia with Comcast for $17.6 billion. “Investor views are likely to deteriorate as competition rises to new levels in 2006 and beyond,” Greenfield wrote. “If Time Warner truly believed in the cable business they would be buying Adelphia for 100% cash, rather than creating a separate investment vehicle via the ’stub’ plan,” wrote the analyst, who has criticized that action in the past.