It's
an old saying that "Marriages are made in heaven."
But after going through the saga of AOL-Time Warner,
one would definitely like to add "Not all"
at the start and "there are a few exceptions"
at the end of the aforesaid adage. As a matter of fact
the merger between AOL and Time Warner was an exception
to the above-mentioned proverb, as it lasted only three
years and its end too was unpleasant; it's something
no one would like to remember or happen.
The
article discusses the very inception of AOL, its journey
towards becoming the giant in the online industry, its
historic merger with Time Warner, then becoming the
second largest cable company in the US, their short
lived marriage/honeymoon and last but not the least
their sad ending or disastrous collapse.
AOL
was started as video-game service in the year 1983,
by William Von Meister, with a vision of linking people
together in a global network, and not by Steve Case,
which can come as a shock to many. But it's a fact that
Steve Case was not the founder of AOL. Steve Case was,
at that time, the president of a consulting business
firm called `The Marketing Group,' previously being
the driven executive to the giant FMCG company, P&G.
In fact, Steve was recommended by Dan, his elder brother,
who at that time was a member of Meister's Board of
Directors to join the then struggling online gaming
company. This recommendation turned out to be a turning
point in his life, as he capitalized on this by his
strategies and sharp-minded nature which helped and
took the company into the premier online service provider's
category, with a lot of fame and fortune coming to his
side. He got promoted from marketing employee to vice
president of marketing to executive vice president of
the company and finally to the chairman and CEO of the
company by the mid-1990s. All this immediate success
after success shows that Steve was very much serious
and loved his job in the online game company. Steve's
suggestions for the firm were very simple and practical
and were easily acceptable by the Directors of the firm
without cross questioning too much. Moreover, he knew
marketing better than anyone else. It was Steve's unique
strategies which helped AOL, having half a million subscribers
in the start of 1990s. And moreover, it is this rapid
rise in the popularity of AOL, which inclined Bill Gates,
the CEO of Microsoft to think of the online business
of AOL and even buying it.A meeting was also held regarding
this aspect, but Steve declined the offer saying that
AOL was not up for sale, which forced Gates to think
of coming up with his own online firm. AOL achieved
milestones after milestones under the leadership of
Steve Case. In the year 1995, AOL made its first foray
overseas establishing itself in the markets of Germany,
Canada, France and Great Britain. All this speaks of
Steve's ability and potential. The subscriber's list
hah grown up to five million which was quite amazing.
Its market value exceeded like anything and its stock
was listed in the S&P 500 index, replacing Venator
Group Inc, which was considered as the grand old Woolworth.
Such was the growing force and impact of AOL, that it
was considered as the most potent force in the cyberspace.
All this and more made Steve Case, a billionaire and
moreover an icon and business tycoon in the American
business industry in the 1990s.
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