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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."
Do we really need those all-inclusive portals anymore ? Time Warner might be thinking along those lines..
> 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.
Was it ever anything else? (I didn't actually get very many, though.)
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I agree with those at America Online that think that as of now, it's best suited for a vertical move to social networking. It's internet connectivity model has been stagnant for a long time, but it's social networking features are strong and have room to improve. (AIM is the quintessential example of this.)
However, I feel bad for those that still work at the company, and users still chained to their internet services for some reason or other.
...AOL as an exclusive media outlet for movies...
Over dial-up, I think it would have been cheaper to GO to Hollywood (plus it might be finished downloading when you return)!
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"One of the four pointers saying 'come and see', and I saw, and beheld a white
About the only thing that AOL really has that are of any worth are AIM and a few blogs such as Engdaget. Other then that they have ruined their reputation too much to be profitable in any other thing.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Plenty can be said about the cons of AOL such as the software being classified as a virus. There was a time period from 1996-2003 when AOL chat rooms had hundreds of thousands of participants 24 hours a day. For us introverts it was a social mecca.
In my day they sent out floppy disks. You know, the kind that could be erased and something useful put on them. It was great!
"Do we really need those all-inclusive portals anymore?"
There was never a need for all-inclusive portals after the arrival of the internet. AOL was trying to keep less-knowledgeable people inside its own sites, and away from the internet, so it could make more money from its ads. For years, and I suppose even now, an AOL email address meant that the owner of the address didn't have any technically knowledgeable friends.
The 88 BILLION dollars lost when Time Warner bought AOL has been considered to be the worst business decision of all time. Maybe the French selling the Louisiana Purchase to the U.S. government was a worse decision. But, if we include decisions made by government, then even the U.S. invading Iraq lost more money.
At the time, even people with little technical knowledge knew that AOL was not a good company to buy.
Time Warner's CEO, Gerald M. Levin, who made the decision, called himself an "imperial CEO". He made huge amounts of money, and didn't seem to care that he caused enormous troubles for his company, and for all its employees that owned stock.
Just before the merger, Ted Turner called the merger "better than sex". The problem continues, of course. People with no technical knowledge assume that, if they don't know something, there is nothing to know. Technically knowledgeable people get amazingly little respect.
was mostly to people who couldn't figure out how to set up their Dialup account for Internet Access. One AOL install CD and they were on the Internet. Plus they had access to the Time/Warner media empire via the AOL search engine.
But now most operating systems have Wizards to guide ISP setup just as easy as the AOL Install CD and most Broadband ISPS have install CDs to set up DSL/Cable Modems and Routers. Plus the media is all over the Internet and not just in an AOL search database. So really what need is there for AOL anymore?
The only advantage for AOL is for those people who cannot get broadband but need a local call-in number that most other ISP's don't offer. I remember bringing my laptop to Branson, Missouri and my NetZero Free Internet dial-up account on my laptop could not get a local Branson number (From Branson for some reason calling Springfield and Joplin numbers where toll access at the Time Sharing Condos and are considered long distance and hence charged more on the bill even if they are in the same area code), but the people at the Time Sharing Condo said that AOL had several local numbers that work with their AOL software.
But now with USB G3 based modems you can get an Internet connection almost anywhere for $40/month or lower. Plus many places offer free Wifi. So there isn't much need for dial-up access local numbers anymore. Cricket has a pay as you go plan, so you can pay for G3 access before you go on vacation and have a whole month to use it.
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It was AOL who bought Time-Warner: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-235400.html
www.gaiageek.com
Isn't that _backwards_? I mean, I know AOL is a laughingstock now, but they paid $164 billion to purchase Time-Warner in 2001. AOL bought Time-Warner, not the other way around. Doesn't the owner spin off the subsidiary?
It was a brilliant move by them at the time to turn Internet bubble money into real money.
rage, rage against the dying of the light