Pathfinder's web: Time's on-line service loses money, editor; Would it be better outside its culture?

Time Warner's Pathfinder site is one of the most popular venues on the World Wide Web. Chock-full of on-line versions of Time Inc. magazines, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and original features such as the "Netly News," it attracts legions of users every week.

But it's losing millions of dollars, and the recent departure of its editor and creative genius, James Kinsella, is raising doubts about whether a giant corporation such as Time Warner can ever make such a new media venture work.

"An effort like this involves passion and vision, which usually come from charismatic leadership," says Internet watcher Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. "You can't take an entrepreneurial company and shuffle management around and expect it to remain the same."

Pathfinder is the centerpiece of Time Warner New Media, a division created in 1992 to catapult the $7.4 billion company into the interactive age. Launched in October 1994, it offers 90 on-line features, although the vast majority are versions of Time Inc. magazines. It has garnered high praise, even from competitors.

"We've taken one of the first steps toward developing commercially viable products in the interactive world," says Time Warner's New...