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Time Warner Confirms Split With AOL
ausekilis writes "Many outlets are reporting that Time Warner has confirmed plans to spin off AOL. All that's left to deal with are a few financial hurdles, such as buying out Google's 5% stake in AOL. The interesting part of the story is that both AOL's CEO and Time Warner's CEO said effectively the same thing, that AOL will be better off as an independent unit, as opposed to 'a cog in the Time Warner wheel.' Interesting to note that when they originally merged, the idea was for AOL to be a one-stop shop for all your internet goods. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Time Warner had invested in AOL as an exclusive media outlet for movies, TV, music, etc. Perhaps AOL would have regained some speed and become the prominent household name it once was, instead of being that company who sent us all the free coasters."
Yes, from the beginning, the Time Warner+AOL deal was a "Match made in heaven" - if only by "heaven", you mean some board room full of people who know nothing about the internet, or people using it, other than what they've read in the "Wall Street Journal.".
Now wait, before you click that "troll" popup, let me explain:
When the deal went together, the "rationale", was that the joint venture would allow "Time Warner", with all it's "media content" (i.e. old Bugs Bunny cartoons) to leverage "AOL" for it's "distribution" method (i.e. crappy dial-up Internet for technologically ignorant users) into a powerhouse.
While you could offer little debate for why this doesn't look good on paper, in the real-world, it just made no sense. Content distributors can go after video, TV, movies, and the entire Internet as a whole, and AOL needs to carry (and deliver) content from all the providers.
This is the same rationale that made NBC think that the needed to partner with Microsoft to start a news web site.
You could argue that my points are wrong or right - but in the end, I knew this was happen, so I'm happy to say
"I told you so!!"
On second though, go ahead - hit the "Troll" button!
I think this may be the end of AOL, but I would not proclaim them dead just yet. AOL is a Phoenix, or at least has risen from the ashes, against all odds a few times already.