Time Warner has revealed that it intends to separate its AOL brand, effectively making the internet giant an independent, publicly traded entity.

Currently Time Warner owns 95% of AOL, and Google holds the remaining 5%.

In the third quarter of this year, as part of a prior arrangement, Time Warner is expected to purchase Google’s 5% stake in AOL, meaning shareholders will own all of the outstanding interests in AOL.

Time Warner expects to complete the restructure by the end of the year.

“The separation will be another critical step in the reshaping of Time Warner that we started at the beginning of last year, enabling us to focus to an even greater degree on our core content businesses. The separation will also provide both companies with greater operational and strategic flexibility. We believe AOL will then have a better opportunity to achieve its full potential as a leading independent internet company,” said Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner chairman and chief executive.