Time Warner is inching closer to an untangling of what many consider one of the worst mergers in American corporate history by shedding America Online.

Could the company’s vast magazine empire under Time Inc., which publishes Sports Illustrated, Time, Fortune and People, be next?

In a regulatory filing Wednesday, Time Warner said it was nearing a decision to spin off America Online, and put an end to the travails that began with the merger in 2000 of the two companies, a deal that has resulted in the evaporation of more than $100 billion of shareholder value.

“Although the company’s board of directors has not made any decision, the company currently anticipates that it would initiate a process to spin off one or more parts of the businesses of AOL to Time Warner’s stockholders, in one or a series of transactions,” the company said in the filing.