AOL

Jim Kimsey

William von Meister

**America Online** (usually abbreviated as AOL) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City.

## History (2000-present)

In January 2000, rumors emerged that America Online and Time Warner were in talks of a merger. However, co-founder and chairman Steve Case debunked these claims. Case stated that combing America Online, a pure internet firm, and Time Warner, a traditional media and cable business, would potentially hurt or even destroy both companies. A few months later, America Online started to focus more on their newly-launched, television-set base client, AOL TV, while still focusing on their internet services. The following year, many internet-based companies, including America Online had declined in market value. Despite this, the company continued to thrive and performed better than many other brick-and-mortar corporations.

Starting in 2002, America Online began offering their broadband services, while still continuing their dial-up service. This was due to the rise of broadband, which was caused by its faster internet speed. Steve Chase left his role as chairman of the company at the end of the year and was succeeded by J. Michael Kelly, who also served as America Online’s CEO and CFO.

In 2004, America Online made the option of personalized greetings, which enabled the user to hear his or her name when performing basic functions. The following year, America Online broadcasted the Live 8 concert over both their computer and television services. The broadcast received thousands of viewers, many of whom downloaded clips of the concert in the following days.

In the mid-2000s, America Online held talks to buy both Facebook and YouTube, which at the time were newly-launched websites. These plans were scrapped for unknown reasons.

Due to the 2007-08 financial crisis and recession, America Online laid off 2,000 of their employees, which was made worse by the sudden decline in America Online’s subscribers. By the end of 2008, chairman J. Michael Kelly announced his decision to step back from the company.

Tim Armstrong, who had previously worked at Google, was announced to be the new CEO and chairman of America Online. Armstrong helped rebrand the company as content-producing, advertisement-focused, while still promoting its internet services as well. He also relaunched AOL TV as a proper streaming service which distributed original content. The company quickly rebounded after the beginning of Armstrong’s tenure according to a 2010 business report. In June 2011, the company acquired The Huffington Post and in 2012, rebranded AOL TV as AOL On.

America Online purchased Blockbuster LLC in a bankruptcy auction on April 6, 2011. The company agreed to pay $322 million in cash, assumed $87 million in liabilities, and other obligations for the nationwide video-rental company. Many critics questioned the decision due to America Online being internet-based and Blockbuster being a chain of video rental stores. Armstrong assured them that while America Online is mostly internet-based, the company also focuses on producing original content.

As a subsidiary, Blockbuster still operates as a chain of video rental stores, while also taking over producing and distributing original content after being acquired by America Online in 2011. In October 2019, AOL On was renamed to Blockbuster Video in order to stand out amongst rival services such as Netflix and Hulu.