With William Hanna's death in 2001, Hanna-Barbera was folded into Warner Bros. On October 10, 1996, Turner was bought out by Time Warner (now "WarnerMedia"). The same year in 1994, Turner turned Hanna-Barbera towards primarily producing new material for its Cartoon Network when Cartoon Network Studios was organized as a division of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. cartoon libraries (pre-1986 MGM, pre-1948 WB, and Associated Artists Productions cartoons). In 1992, Turner launched the Cartoon Network, which had been built around reruns from the Hanna-Barbera and the Turner Entertainment Co. The same year, the company was renamed to "H-B Production Co." and renamed again as "Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc." in 1993. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera both went into semi-retirement, yet continued to serve as ceremonial figureheads for the studio. In 1991, the studio was purchased by Turner Broadcasting, initially with help from the Apollo Investment Group. The company was renamed to " Hanna-Barbera Productions" in 1959 and was later acquired by Taft Broadcasting in 1967 Taft was later renamed to Great American Broadcasting in 1987 after a buyout it would then be renamed to Citicasters in 1993 before finally being absorbed into Jacor Communications in 1997, who in turn was acquired by ClearChannel Communications (now iHeart Media) in 1999. The same year, H-B struck a deal with Columbia Pictures Corporation to syndicate the cartoons on television in conjunction with Columbia's television division Screen Gems until 1966 and co-produced several cartoons in the early 1970s until 1974 and by Columbia Pictures Television from 1974-1975. After MGM shut down its animation studio in 1957, H-B Enterprises became Hanna and Barbera's full-time job. In 1955, Bill and Joe later became the co-heads of the MGM animation department after producer Fred Quimby retired. Hanna-Barbera was originally formed as a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1944 by Tom and Jerry creators and directors William "Bill" Hanna & Joseph "Joe" Barbera and live-action director George Sidney as "H-B Enterprises" in order to produce sponsored films and later television commercials.