Time Warner stalwart Adler to leave

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ed Adler, the communications chief who saw Time Warner Inc through its tumultuous merger with AOL, is to leave the company after a transition period.

Adler, who has spent his entire career with Time Warner, started as a reporter at Time magazine while still at college. He has also been a programing executive at HBO and a news editor at Time.

He was already a senior communications executive when AOL bought Time Warner in 2001 in a $160 billion deal that is commonly referred to as one of the worst mergers in business history.

In the last two years Time Warner has slimmed down by spinning off units including AOL Inc AOL.N and Time Warner Cable Inc.

"It was only because we are now on such solid ground that, after discussing it with him, I reluctantly accepted Ed's decision to look for new opportunities," said Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes in a statement.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)