Nothing now stands in the way of the creation of the world's first media and Internet behemoth.
The two companies expect to become one corporation, called AOL Time Warner Inc., perhaps as early as Friday, almost exactly a year after the deal was announced Jan. 10, 2000. Time Warner issued an almost identical statement. Similarly, the FCC extracted concessions designed to bolster competition in the instant messaging business. Under the FCC agreement, if AOL offers advanced instant-messaging services over Time Warner's cable lines, it must make the system available to competitors. Rivals such as Microsoft Corp. and Tribal Voice had hoped the FCC would also force AOL to open its existing messaging service.