AOL announces that it has reached 1 million subscribers. Microsoft ships Explorer 3.0 which is considered Navigators equal. AOL takes a 385 million charge for overly aggressive accounting. Bob Pittman becomes president of AOL Networks. The infamous busy-signal meltdown.
Case asks members to limit their access voluntarily, settles lawsuits with several states.
September 1997 Acquires rival online service CompuServe in a three-way deal with WorldCom. Microsoft releases Explorer 4.0 which is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system. November 1997 Announces that it has reached 10 million members members worldwide. November 1998 Browser share down to 41 percent vs. Microsoft's 44 percent. AOL buys Netscape for 4.2 million in stock.