DealBreaker.com

That acquisition was chosen... poorly.

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:20:27 -0500

Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons announced that a decision on the fate of AOL will be made by year's end. Parsons talked about his large controversial unit on a webcast given at a Merrill Lynch U.S. media conference in London, claiming that in terms of AOL's refocused online ad sales engine business model "we're in the right area."

Parsons also said that the company was sticking with the publishing racket. His comments on the industry, from Reuters:

"We're not looking to move our publishing company out," Parsons told Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen during a question and answer session. [Parons] added Time Warner would continue to shut down unprofitable titles and sell off others. "As long as our publications have Jesus on the cover 3, maybe 4 times a year, I think we're set," he shouted from his Second Life mountaintop. "Magazines will be around for a long time," he said. "It can be in the 8, 9, 10 percent growth business for a long time, if we successfully make this transition to digital."

Time Warner to make decision on AOL at year-end

Over $100bn in goodwill write-downs means never having to say you're sorry

Fri, 25 May 2007 13:30:37 -0500

Or does it? Steve Case keeps apologizing for the whole AOL/Time Waner debacle, this time in a graudation speech at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (watch here).

Contrast that speech with this blast from the past (just look at the movies that are "Now Playing" in the first few seconds):

For New M.B.A.’s, Diplomas and Deal Wisdom [DealBook]

The Axe Falls on Maureen Govern

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:12:08 -0500

Maureen Govern is down and out at AOL. The Chief Technology Officer ran the division responsible for inadvertently releasing search data for more than a half a millions Internet users, has resigned from the company. She’s being replaced by her predecessor, John McKinley. Poor Maureen barely got a chance to get her feet wet at AOL, joining the company only last September.

AOL chief technology officer resigns [Reuters]

Would you use AOL even if they gave it away?

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 10:11:42 -0500

There’s something a little embarrassing when someone gives you their email address and it ends with “aol.com.” It’s like meeting a new acquaintance who has his fly down. Do you tell them?

Now word comes that AOL CEO Jonathan Miller has a plan to stem the continuing decline in AOL’s subscriber base—he wants to give it away to anyone with a high-speed internet connection. Revenues will come from advertising. We’re not sure where they came up with this innovative idea but it strikes us as brilliant. It could revolutionize the internet. Free pants without zippers for everyone!

AOL may offer free high-speed connection to Web-WSJ [Reuters]