AOL Media LLC (formerly a predecessor company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is a web portal and former online service provider based in New York City. It is owned by Bending Spoons.
AOL traces its history to PlayNET, an online service. PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link, which went online in November 1985. An IBM PC compatible client was launched in 1988. The service was renamed as America Online (abbreviated as AOL) in 1989. AOL grew to become the largest online service, ahead of established players CompuServe and Prodigy. By 1995, AOL had about three million active users.
AOL was at one point the most recognized Internet-related brand in the United States. AOL was an internet service provider (ISP) and once provided dial-up Internet access to millions of Americans and pioneered chat rooms and instant messaging with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). In 1998, AOL purchased Netscape for US$4.2 billion. As of 2000, AOL was providing internet service to over 20 million consumers. In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased Time Warner for stock in the largest merger in US history. AOL shrank rapidly thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up Internet access and the rise of broadband.
AOL was spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies. In 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion, and was merged with Yahoo the following year after it was also acquired by Verizon under Verizon Media. In August 2021, Verizon sold Verizon Media (and thus AOL) to affiliates of Apollo Global Management for $5 billion, In January 2026, Apollo sold AOL to Bending Spoons for $1.5 billion.
History
1983–1991: early years AOL began in 1983, as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (CVC), founded by William von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console, after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Communications. Subscribers bought a modem from the company for $49.95 and paid a one-time $15 setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of $1 per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module, playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game.
In January 1983, Steve Case was hired as a marketing consultant for Control Video on the recommendation of his brother, investment banker Dan Case. In May 1983, Jim Kimsey became a manufacturing consultant for Control Video, which was near bankruptcy. Kimsey was brought in by his West Point friend Frank Caufield, an investor in the company. In early 1985, von Meister left the company.
In May 1985, Quantum Computer Services, an online services company, was founded by Kimsey from the remnants of Control Video, with Kimsey as chief executive officer and Marc Seriff as chief technology officer. The technical team consisted of Seriff, Tom Ralston, Ray Heinrich, Steve Trus, Ken Huntsman, Janet Hunter, Dave Brown, Craig Dykstra, Doug Coward, and Mike Ficco. In 1987, Case was promoted again to executive vice-president. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to take over the role of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.
Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985, launched a dedicated online service for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short). The Quantum Link software was based on software licensed from PlayNet, Inc., which was founded in 1983 by Howard Goldberg and Dave Panzl. The service was different from other online services as it used the computing power of the Commodore 64 and the Apple II rather than just a "dumb" terminal. It passed tokens back and forth and provided a fixed-price service tailored for home users. In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation. After the company parted ways with Apple in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online. Case promoted and sold AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in contrast to CompuServe, which was well established in the technical community.
From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. The company introduced many innovative online interactive titles and games, including: Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986–1988) from LucasArts. The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988). Quantum Space, the first fully automated play-by-mail game (1989–1991).
1991–1999: Internet age
In February 1991, AOL for IBM PC compatibles running MS-DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface; it was followed a year later by AOL for Windows 3.0. This coincided with growth in pay-based online services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie.
During the early 1990s, the average subscription lasted for about 25 months and accounted for $350 in total revenue. Advertisements invited modem owners to "Try America Online FREE", promising free software and trial membership. AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in late 1994. In September 1993, AOL added Usenet access to its features. This is commonly referred to as the "Eternal September", as Usenet's cycle of new users was previously dominated by smaller numbers of college and university freshmen gaining access in September and taking a few weeks to acclimate. This also coincided with a new "carpet bombing" marketing campaign by CMO Jan Brandt to distribute as many free trial AOL trial disks as possible through nonconventional distribution partners. At one point, 50% of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo. AOL quickly surpassed GEnie, and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and CompuServe. In November 1994, AOL purchased Booklink for its web browser, to give its users web access. In 1996, AOL replaced Booklink with a browser based on Internet Explorer, reportedly in exchange for inclusion of AOL in Windows.
AOL launched services with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, Pearson, Scholastic, ASCD, NSBA, NCTE, Discovery Networks, Turner Education Services (CNN Newsroom), NPR, The Princeton Review, Stanley Kaplan, Barron's, Highlights for Kids, the US Department of Education, and many other education providers. AOL offered the first real-time homework help service (the Teacher Pager—1990; prior to this, AOL provided homework help bulletin boards), the first service by children, for children (Kids Only Online, 1991), the first online service for parents (the Parents Information Network, 1991), the first online courses (1988), the first omnibus service for teachers (the Teachers' Information Network, 1990), the first online exhibit (Library of Congress, 1991), the first parental controls, and many other online education firsts.
AOL purchased search engine WebCrawler in 1995, but sold it to Excite the following year; the deal made Excite the sole search and directory service on AOL. After the deal closed in March 1997, AOL launched its own branded search engine, based on Excite, called NetFind. This was renamed AOL Search in 1999.
AOL charged its users an hourly fee until December 1996, when the company changed to a flat monthly rate of $19.95. During this time, AOL connections were flooded with users trying to connect, and many canceled their accounts due to constant busy signals. A commercial was made featuring Steve Case telling people AOL was working day and night to fix the problem. Within three years, AOL's user base grew to 10 million people. In 1995, AOL was headquartered at 8619 Westwood Center Drive in the Tysons Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. near the Town of Vienna.
AOL was quickly running out of room in October 1996 for its network at the Fairfax County campus. In mid-1996, AOL moved to 22000 AOL Way in Dulles, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia to provide room for future growth. In a five-year landmark agreement with the most popular operating system, AOL was bundled with Windows software.
In March 1996, the short-lived eWorld was purchased by AOL. In 1997, about half of all US homes with Internet access had it through AOL. During this time, AOL's content channels, under Jason Seiken, including News, Sports, and Entertainment, experienced their greatest growth as AOL become the dominant online service internationally with more than 34 million subscribers.
In August 1996, AOL experienced a total outage that lasted 19 hours and took over six million people offline.
In February 1998, AOL acquired CompuServe Interactive Services (CIS) via WorldCom (later Verizon), which kept Compuware's networking business.
In November 1998, AOL announced it would acquire Netscape, best known for their web browser, in a major $4.2 billion deal. The deal closed in March 1999. Another large acquisition in December 1999 was that of MapQuest, for $1.1 billion.
2000–2008: As AOL Time Warner
In January 2000, as new broadband technologies were being rolled out around the New York City metropolitan area and elsewhere across the United States, AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge, forming AOL Time Warner, Inc. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed in January 2001. The new company was led by executives from AOL, SBI, and Time Warner. Gerald Levin, who had served as CEO of Time Warner, was CEO of the new company. Steve Case served as chairman, J. Michael Kelly (from AOL) was the chief financial officer, Robert W. Pittman (from AOL) and Dick Parsons (from Time Warner) served as co-chief operating officers. In 2002, Jonathan Miller became CEO of AOL. Note: only the beginning of the news article was available, the remainder behind a paywall. The following year, AOL Time Warner dropped the "AOL" from its name. It was the largest merger in history when completed with the combined value of the companies at $360 billion. This value fell sharply, to as low as $120 billion, as markets repriced AOL's valuation as a pure internet firm more modestly when combined with the traditional media and cable business. This status did not last long, and the company's value rose again within three months. By the end of that year, the tide had turned against "pure" internet companies, with many collapsing under falling stock prices, and even the strongest companies in the field losing up to 75% of their market value. The decline continued through 2001, but even with the losses, AOL was among the internet giants that continued to outperform brick and mortar companies.