Five Ohio pension funds and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation fund, all in Columbus, will share a net $144 million settlement with Time Warner Inc. over a 2003 lawsuit that claimed the value of AOL stock was inflated before the 2001 AOL-Time Warner merger, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann said in a news conference today. Mr. Dann said Ohio funds would have received only $9 million if they had taken part in the class-action lawsuit against the company. A separate lawsuit against Ernst & Young, Time Warner’s accounting firm, is pending.
The $67.9 billion State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio will receive $66.6 million; the $73.6 billion Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, $62.3 million; the $18.9 billion workers compensation fund, $8.9 million; the $11.2 billion Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, $4.2 million; the $10.3 billion School Employees Retirement System of Ohio, $2.5 million; and the $753 million Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System, $290,778.
A call to Time Warner was not returned by press time.
The $149 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System, Sacramento, reached a $105 million settlement with Time Warner in February.
