Episode 44: AOL - Time Warner (with the Internet History Podcast)

On this extra-long episode of Acquired, Brian McCullough from the Internet History Podcast returns to discuss perhaps the most (in)famous merger of all time: AOL - Time Warner. Who doesn’t remember the soothing sounds of 56k modems and the timeless phrase, “You’ve Got Mail”? Join us all as we unpack how one of the biggest ISP’s of the 90’s tried to take over the world… and fell far short.

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Topics Covered Include:

• AOL’s status in the 90’s / early 00’s
• Explaining just what it is that AOL did at the height of their popularity
• How AOL pioneered a number of internet paradigms
• AOL’s persistent money troubles and bailouts from other companies
• Steve Case foreseeing the coming era of broadband, inspiring AOL to pursue working with a cable company
• Ebay vs. Time Warner in a down-to-the-wire war for a merger with AOL
• Why the money dried up for AOL after their merger with Time Warner
• AOL and its value in the post-Time-Warner era
• Speculating about what would have happened had AOL and others stayed independent businesses
• And much discussion on how to grade this one…

The Carve Out:

• Ben: Give and Take by Adam Grant
• David: Season of the Witch by David Talbot
• Brian: A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Rob Goodman