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Time Warner Considering Demerging with AOL

Posted by Zonk on Mon Oct 23, 2006 01:45 AM
from the dream-on dept.
America Online Businesses
Gracenotes writes "According to the Daily Telegraph, America Online CEO Jonathan Miller notes that AOL might be successful enough to break away from Time Warner and still remain in business. According to Miller, AOL is providing many online services, which provide competition against Google, Yahoo, and other rivals. Since its merger with Time Warner and plummet in value, such features have been increasingly emphasized."
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Time Warner Considering Demerging with AOL 25 Comments More | Login /

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  • Providing services? (Score:5, Funny)

    by airencracken (993443) on Monday October 23 2006, @01:47AM (#16543218) Homepage Journal
    The same services that can be had for five dollars in full metal jacket. Sucky Sucky.

    • Re:Providing services? (Score:5, Informative)

      by shmlco (594907) on Monday October 23 2006, @03:12AM (#16543614) Homepage
      Forget that, what about "demerging"? I don't think that word means what they think it means...

      demerge: \De*merge"\, v. t. [L. demergere.] To plunge down into; to sink; to immerse.
      [ Parent ]

          • Re:Providing services? (Score:5, Funny)

            by shaneh0 (624603) on Monday October 23 2006, @07:29AM (#16544988)
            > Yeah, a lot of words are commonly used in business, but it doesn't mean they're actual
            > words, or that they are being used correctly.

            Like "Honesty," "Integrity" and "Ethics" for example.

            [ Parent ]

  • Hooray for AOL... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Farmer Tim (530755) <roundfileNO@SPAMmindless.com> on Monday October 23 2006, @01:51AM (#16543242) Journal
    AOL might be successful enough to break away from Time Warner and still remain in business

    Can anyone actually think of a reason this is good news?

    • Re:Hooray for AOL... (Score:5, Funny)

      by SnprBoB86 (576143) on Monday October 23 2006, @01:56AM (#16543268) Homepage
      yes... that "might"... that means they might NOT be able to stay in business. HURRAY!
      [ Parent ]

    • Re:Hooray for AOL... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Elminst (53259) on Monday October 23 2006, @04:30AM (#16543950) Homepage
      As a Time Warner employee, I (and nearly all of my co-workers) can't wait till they drop the fucking dead weight that is AOL.
      [ Parent ]

      • Re:Hooray for AOL... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by macthulhu (603399) on Monday October 23 2006, @09:04AM (#16545930)
        Amen to that. I wrapped up ten years at TW in June, so I got some of the before, during, and after AOL. It's like hiring a guy to come in your office and trash it every morning before you get there. Then, while you try to clean it up so you can start your work day, they sneak up behind you and kick you in the balls. The whole process repeats when you leave for lunch.
        [ Parent ]

        • Re:Hooray for AOL... (Score:4, Informative)

          by macserv (701681) on Tuesday October 24 2006, @12:05AM (#16556054)
          As a fellow AOL employee, I wish I had mod points for you, sir.

          I'm a member of our Local Search Products team, and I can assure every employee in a far-off branch of the company that AOL is far from dead weight. We make an assload of money with our web products, and our online advertising business is growing faster than anyone else's. Before you speak, check the balance sheet.
          [ Parent ]

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by cofaboy (718205)
        Whats the problem with that?

        Clueless, uses MS Windows + AOL
        Non-clueless, block all that is AOL,
        Non-clueless, internet experience improves 30,000%

        No problem

  • Seems like Time Warner wants to cut its losses (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Uncle Snuffagus (840511) on Monday October 23 2006, @01:57AM (#16543274)
    from TFA... ""I don't believe there is a scenario whereby we could have an independent AOL." Successful enough to break away? Thats not how I read it!

  • AOL's Niche market (Score:3, Funny)

    by pookemon (909195) on Monday October 23 2006, @02:05AM (#16543338) Homepage
    They'll be successful on their own because they have a niche market. It's the "Freedom of Information" market...

  • Are they serious? AOL? Successful? (Score:5, Informative)

    by thewldisntenuff (778302) on Monday October 23 2006, @02:06AM (#16543344) Homepage
    AOL just cut 1400 jobs in Arizona and New Mexico. [cbsnews.com] Not only that, but in another interesting story - [itnews.com.au]

    Internet service provider AOL's sales may shrink for the next two years as it gives away services to win more users and attract advertising, its chief executive said in an interview published on Saturday.

    "Maybe another two years, you are right there," Jonathan Miller said when asked by German newspaper Die Welt whether sales would continue to fall. "But it's about profitability for us in this phase." ...

    In recent weeks, AOL has sold its Internet access units in Germany, France and Britain for a total of almost US$2 billion as it reshapes itself into a free Web portal where popular email and entertainment services are supported by advertising.

     The only, ONLY thing holding AOL still together are people who are less internet savvy and those who cling to AOL email addresses for their lives (certain professionals, businesspeople, et al). Creating a successful and large advertising group sounds like it'd be tricky in such a large market. Most people think of AOL the ISP or the portal than the advertising giant.

    Finally, it should be noted that AOL spokesman John Buckley said "Time Warner ``is not considering a sale or demerger,'" [bloomberg.com]

    • Re:Are they serious? AOL? Successful? (Score:5, Funny)

      by bm_luethke (253362) <luethkeb@NOSpAM.comcast.net> on Monday October 23 2006, @03:04AM (#16543598)
      "The only, ONLY thing holding AOL still together are people who are less internet savvy"

      My uncle swears that AOL's browser is WAY better than MSIE, Netscape, or Opera (I've had him use all of them over trying to find one he can use). AOL works and the others never do - including allowing him to login to e-bay and page rendering. I wouldn't say "internet savvy" as much as "computer savvy".

      He dropped DSL to go back to dial up because it was too "hard" to add a new e-mail through the browser - he needed AOL. I'm not real sure how he is taking the change. I know he is happy to be back in the fold, but I still hear him say he is going to go do something tonight that I know dial-up will never do (for instance, download and burn a DVD - good luck getting that done in a few hours on dial-up even though he swears it works fine). I think there is a certain amount of pride that will not allow him to say I am correct - I know he didn't download a 200+ meg file in the last 15 minutes on dial-up regardless of what he tells me.

      *shrug*. I can not really understand being that clueless on anything. While there are many many many things I know nothing about I tend to either a) trust those that are experts and do as they say (and not argue with them) or b) learn enough to do it myself. Option A isn't a big deal - there are too many things out there to know enough about (for instance, I depend on a car mechanic even though I *could* learn to do it on my own - I just do not have the time to do so and I do not enjoy working on a vehicle). Though even then I try and learn *something* about any thing I use daily/weekly, enough so that I can somewhat tell if someone is trying to rip me off or enough so that I can converse/understand what the experts tell me is wrong.

      There is obviously a market for those types of people. While my uncle is one of the worst I know, he still is not that unique. And I do not think they will ever really advance, they do not want too.
      [ Parent ]

      • Re:Are they serious? AOL? Successful? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by malsdavis (542216) * on Monday October 23 2006, @05:32AM (#16544250)
        I know plenty of people who won't switch to Firefox from IE for the exact same reason. Deep down they understand that Firefox is a much better browser, but they find computers so intimidating that they are scared stiff about something so simple as switching their web browser.

        People on slashdot often forget that we do not represent the majority. Just because people like us recognise when something is far better and are willing to spend 20 minutes switching, the majority are terrified that changing anything on their computer will stop it working (or I guess something along those lines).

        Which is why there are so many countless stories of irrational 'upgradeaphobia' (my word, I claim it!) by otherwise quite intelligent people.

        [ Parent ]

    • More fatalistic, uninformed jive (Score:4, Insightful)

      by BeeBeard (999187) on Monday October 23 2006, @07:35AM (#16545054)
      The only, ONLY thing holding AOL still together are people who are less internet savvy and those who cling to AOL email addresses for their lives (certain professionals, businesspeople, et al).


      Another +5 mis-informative comment. If you think that after all the years it's been in business, AOL is still just an ISP, then you haven't been paying attention. Their other properties [wikipedia.org] more than pay the light bill, so to speak. Just because you're not aware of them doesn't mean they don't exist.

      If AOL has a problem, it's that they are TOO big. They have a finger in too many pies, and have strayed far from their roots. They have lost focus as a company, sure, but to intimate that they are hanging on a thin financial thread that will break if your granny stops using them as an ISP is absolutely ridiculous and dishonest.
      [ Parent ]

  • In some ways a victim of its own success (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 99luftballon (838486) on Monday October 23 2006, @02:12AM (#16543374)
    AOL is suffering from a lot of things but in the UK what's really hurt them is the commoditisation of the internet. AOL made its reputation on ease of use, helping my mother and millions of other newbys get online. It was simple, well supported, and dominated the dial up market. Now broadband is the norm and accounts for over two thirds of UK internet connections. There are a handful of suppliers who all sell kit that is as easy to use as AOL's code and they are largely telcos who own the pipes rather than renting them. AOL is living off its old user base, which explains their tricky cancellation procedure. [digg.com] There's little to keep people at AOL now. It's underfunded its internet portal, AIM is interoperating with other IM systems and Google's beating the pants off AOL in local service provision. The Carphone Warehouse deal shows how little impact AOL has today. Maybe it'll spur a retro market for AOL emails...

    • Re:In some ways a victim of its own success (Score:4, Interesting)

      by linuxci (3530) on Monday October 23 2006, @02:41AM (#16543502) Homepage
      In the UK I suspect a lot of run of the mill ISPs will die out with Sky (news corps UK satellite service) and mobile phone companies like Orange offering free broadband to their customers. I'm not sure why ntl:Telewest our biggest cable company has still not offered the service free yet but I'm sure they will so they don't lose out to Sky.

      But with most people getting broadband for free once these rollouts complete the only market for a subscription ISP will be for those that need something the free ISPs don't offer (static IP's, usenet, etc), that's not an AOL niche.
      [ Parent ]

  • Competition? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mantrid42 (972953) on Monday October 23 2006, @02:16AM (#16543398)
    AOL is competing with Google and Yahoo? I guess in the sense that a one-legged horse with rabies is competing in the Kentucky Derbie, that might be accurate... if the horse is also dead.

  • have they tried calling AOL yet? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2006, @02:35AM (#16543480)
    AOL: Hi this is AOL, how can we help you?

    TimeW: Well, I'd like to cancel my service

    AOL: sorry to hear that, can we offer you our high speed internet services?

    TimeW: No, thats ok.. I just want to cancel the account, I'm not a n00b anymore.

    AOL: have you tried our great new chatting shizz?

    TimeW: look, I want to quit, do it now plz kthx

    AOL: I"m having a hard time understanding exactly what you want me to do?

    (insert 9 more minutes of infuriating banter here)

    anyway.. Time Warner knows they have a dinosaur on their hands.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by clickclickdrone (964164)
      I had far better luck with AOL UK.
      Me: I want to cancel my account
      AOL: IS there a problem with the service?
      Me: No, my pc died and I can't afford to fix it for some months.
      AOL: OK, but if you come back in the next 6 months you can have your original acco

  • The conversation will go something like this.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Channard (693317) on Monday October 23 2006, @02:44AM (#16543514)
    Time Warner Exec: Okay, it's decided. We're going to demerge with you.
    AOL Exec: Really? Why do you want to demerge with us?
    TW: I guess you weren't as profitable as we hoped.
    AOL: Well, if I could offer you 10,000 free AOL shares would you consider not demerging?
    TW: Look, it's a done deal. We're demerging. Just do it.
    AOL: Really? You're sure I can't change your mind?
    TW: We're demerging, dammit!
    AOL: Let me put you onto my manager.
    TW: Hey, wait, I just want to demerge *transfer*
    AOL VP: So, sir. I gather you're thinking of demerging. Are you aware of the many benefits being merged with AOL offers.
    TW: JESUS CHRIST! Just Dememerge already?
    AOL VP: Okay, sir, just let me put you through to our demerging department.
    *click*
    TW: Hello? Hello? Fuckers! They hung up on me!

    • Re:The conversation will go something like this.. (Score:4, Funny)

      by bytesex (112972) on Monday October 23 2006, @03:14AM (#16543626) Homepage
      Time Warner Exec: Okay, it's decided. We're going to demerge with you.
      AOL Exec: Really? Look. It's _US_ who bought _YOU_. So _WE_ are going to demerge with _YOU_, not the other way 'round.
      TW: Ha ! Loser. We are bigger now. _WE_ are going to demerge with _YOU_.
      AOL: Hell no ! _WE_ are going to demerge with _YOU_ motherf$%^# !
      TW: No ! Because I'm going to call the demerge department now !
      AOL: Not if I can get there quicker ! Hello ?! Hello ?! Fucker ! He hung up on me !
      [ Parent ]
    • True, but I think the point is that the people that needed the internet, content, and the portal all-together are now starting to "grow up" and out of the AOL system. Even if AOL becomes free, there are plenty of other free, ad-free ways to get all three elements seperately nowadays.
      I'm of the opinion that AOL is dying, and because of a combination of inconvenience, ads, and bad maneuvers in the past, it won't make make up for itself, even if a format change happens soon.
      [ Parent ]

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Lord Kano (13027)
      Yes it's an Internet provider, but it's also a content provider, a portal provider, and many other things.

      AOL as a content provider is a sure loser. If you were trying to get to the largest possible audience with your product (TV show, music, etc...) would
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