Verizon buys AOL

[Kaido]

...for $4.4 billion dollars:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/12/verizon-buys-aol/

 

[sdifox]

Whut? What kind of market valuation is that? Number of CDs sent out?

 

[Kaido]

Whut? What kind of market valuation is that? Number of CDs sent out?

LOL :biggrin:

I had to make sure it wasn't April 1st...seriously, what the heck? Although AOL has diversified quite a bit since the good old CD-mailer days...they own Engadget, TechCrunch, and even the Huffington Post now. I'm pretty happy with Verizon's cellular service here in New England. Just a very odd acquisition is all...

 

[lupi]

Have no clue what AOL does anymore other than a connection point for those out of broadband range and futiley tossing money into acquisitions to attempt to stay relevant. No clue why verizon would want them.

 

[PricklyPete]

Have no clue what AOL does anymore other than a connection point for those out of broadband range and futiley tossing money into acquisitions to attempt to stay relevant. No clue why verizon would want them.

I'm pretty sure they are mostly just content these days.

 

[Red Storm]

Doesn't AOL still make around ~$200 million a year from people who are still paying for a monthly AOL subscription?

 

[Fritzo]

At last count AOL still has over 2 million dialup subscribers, most of those are probably only using the email because the users don't know how to use anything else. At $9.95-$19.95 a month, that's some serious monthly income.

 

[Markbnj]

How in God's name does this make sense for a wireless company?

 

[gorcorps]

LOL :biggrin:

I had to make sure it wasn't April 1st...seriously, what the heck? Although AOL has diversified quite a bit since the good old CD-mailer days...they own Engadget, TechCrunch, and even the Huffington Post now. I'm pretty happy with Verizon's cellular service here in New England. Just a very odd acquisition is all...

Not just that, but they have a hand in advertising as well. I'm sure they don't have anything on google, but something most people don't think of.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

man, verizon execs must be the only peeps on the planet that dont realize aols been dead for more than 15 years

 

[Rakehellion]

How in God's name does this make sense for a wireless company?

Now they're wired.

 

[Rakehellion]

Even though they're AOL and this is 2015, I'd have thought they were worth 10 times that. Silly me.


Just Googled it: "In 2002, AOL’s market cap was $150 billion, enough to swallow Time-Warner"

 

[Newell Steamer]

Welcome, you've been bought.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Apparently ad tech was the reason for the buy. Makes sense.

http://arstechnica.com/business/201...r-4-4-billion-calls-it-a-digital-trailblazer/

 

[vi edit]

That gets them Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch. Those are some fairly high traffic sites to sling their stances from and hide other negative articles (net neutrality for example).

 

[CPA]

At last count AOL still has over 2 million dialup subscribers, most of those are probably only using the email because the users don't know how to use anything else. At $9.95-$19.95 a month, that's some serious monthly income.

$20M - $400M a month is a mid-size company. Serious "income", I think you meant revenue, not found.

 

[Mixolydian]

How in God's name does this make sense for a wireless company?

IIRC Verizon operates landlines as well, mainly on the east coast.

 

[CPA]

IIRC Verizon operates landlines as well, mainly on the east coast.

They also own some smaller national companies. I use TTI National for my landline long distance. When there's an issue or I receive a letter from then, it's from Verizon.

 

[Fritzo]

$20M - $400M a month is a mid-size company. Serious "income", I think you meant revenue, not found.

I mid-sized company usually makes $50 million or less in annual revenue. They're making that PER MONTH.

 

[nageov3t]

I know they sold a bunch of mobile-related patents to Microsoft, but I wonder if they're still holding on to some significant internet-related patents.

they've also got some assets like Huffington Post and TechCrunch.

 

[DesiPower]

I thought it was some sort of joke thread

 

[sourceninja]

...

 

[OverVolt]

..

 

[BoomerD]

Whut? What kind of market valuation is that? Number of floppies sent out?

:whiste:

I used to love getting the AOL mailers. It meant I got a free floppy for my collection...