AOL

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  Web portal, online service provider, internet service provider

• Country

  United States

• Founders

  Steve Case, Jim Kimsey, Marc Seriff, William von Meister

• Employees

  5600

• Headquarters

  New York City, United States

• Users (1995)

  Approximately 3 million active users

• Users (2000)

  Over 20 million internet service consumers

• Original Name

  America Online

• Current Status

  Brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc.

• Key Services/Products

  Dial-up internet, instant messaging (AOL Instant Messenger - AIM), chat rooms, email, web portal, online content (news, entertainment, finance), MapQuest, IN2TV, TMZ.com, AOL Desktop, AOL Active Security Monitor, AOL Active Virus Shield

• Founding Year (Company)

  1983

Timeline

• AOL company founded. (Source: Wikidata, Web Search)

  1983-01-01

• PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link (Q-Link), which went online. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  1985-11

• A new IBM PC client for the service was launched. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1988

• The service was renamed America Online. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia, Web Search)

  1989

• Began adding internet access and expanded to include personal computers running Microsoft Windows OS. (Source: DBPedia, Web Search)

  1993

• Had approximately three million active users. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  1995

• Acquired Netscape for $4.2 billion. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  1998

• Providing internet service to over 20 million consumers. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2000

• Purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. history. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia, Web Search)

  2001

• Announced retirement of the full name America Online; the official name became AOL. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2006-04-03

• Offered a new program called AOL Active Security Monitor. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2006-06-08

• Spun off from Time Warner, with Tim Armstrong appointed as the new CEO. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  2009

• Acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia, Web Search)

  2015-06-23

• Merged with Yahoo after Yahoo was also acquired by Verizon. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2016

• Verizon announced the sale of Yahoo and AOL to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia, Web Search)

  2021-05-03

AOL

AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET. PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link (Q-Link), which went online in November 1985. A new IBM PC client was launched in 1988, and eventually renamed as America Online in 1989. AOL grew to become the largest online service, displacing established players like CompuServe and The Source. By 1995, AOL had about three million active users. AOL was at one point the most recognized brand on the Web in the United States. AOL once provided a dial-up Internet service to millions of Americans and pioneered instant messaging and chat rooms with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). In 1998, AOL purchased Netscape for US$4.2 billion. By 2000, AOL was providing internet service to over 20 million consumers, dominating the market of Internet service providers (ISPs). In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in US history. AOL shrank rapidly thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and 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 the latter was also acquired by Verizon. In 2021, Verizon announced it would sell Yahoo and thus AOL to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.

Web Search Results

• AOL | Company Overview & News

  AOL Inc. (AOL) is a global Web services company with a range of brands and offerings and a global audience. The Company's business spans online content, products and services, which it offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. Its business operations are focused on AOL Properties and Third Party Network. AOL Properties include its owned and operated content, products and services in the Content, Local, Paid Services and Consumer Applications strategy areas in addition to its AOL Ventures [...] is a global Web services company with a range of brands and offerings and a global audience. The Company's business spans online content, products and services, which it offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. Its business operations are focused on AOL Properties and Third Party Network. AOL Properties include its owned and operated content, products and services in the Content, Local, Paid Services and Consumer Applications strategy areas in addition to its AOL Ventures offerings. [...] offerings. AOL Properties also include co-branded Websites owned by third parties. It generates advertising revenues from AOL Properties through the sale of display advertising and search and contextual advertising. It offers a range of display advertising, including text and banner advertising, mobile, video and rich media advertising, sponsorship of content offerings, and local and classified advertising. Read Less

• What is AOL?

  Share this article Copy Link Share on X Share on Linkedin Share on Facebook Image 2 AOL, short for America Online, is a web-based company that at its peak dominated the early internet age. In the 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s, it was a go-to service for dial-up internet provision and a major provider of e-mail as well as instant messaging. [...] Since 2021, AOL has been owned by Yahoo, one of the largest internet companies in the United States. Prior to that, the company was AOL Time warner between 2001 and 2009 before its breakup, then independently operated until it was acquired by Verizon in 2015 for $4.4 billion and subsequently sold. [...] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, AOL had a high standing as one of the most popular ISPs and one of the most valuable companies in the world. However, with the move to broadband, AOL’s fortunes began to turn. In addition, the changing landscape of the media and advertising world proved to be a major hit to the company’s model, with then-upstart competitors such as Google and Facebook sweeping up huge amounts of the market.

• AOL - Wikipedia

  AOL has a global portfolio of media brands and advertising services across mobile, desktop, and TV. Services include brand integration and sponsorships through its in-house branded content arm, Partner Studio by AOL, as well as data and programmatic offerings through ad technology stack, ONE by AOL. [...] On April 3, 2006, AOL announced that it would retire the full name America Online. The official name of the service became AOL, and the full name of the Time Warner subdivision became AOL LLC. On June 8, 2006, AOL offered a new program called AOL Active Security Monitor, a diagnostic tool to monitor and rate PC security status, and recommended additional security software from AOL or Download.com. Two months later, AOL released AOL Active Virus Shield, a free product developed by Kaspersky Lab, [...] AOL Desktop is an internet suite produced by AOL from 2007 that integrates a web browser, a media player "Media player (application software)") and an instant messenger client. Version 10.X was based on AOL OpenRide, it is an upgrade from such. The macOS version is based on WebKit.

• AOL | American Online Company | Britannica Money

  Founded in 1989 in Dulles, Virginia, the company initially served only users of Apple Computer’s Macintosh and Apple II machines, expanding to include personal computers running Microsoft Corporation’s Windows OS (operating system) in 1993. America Online grew in popularity throughout the 1990s, becoming the leading Internet service provider in the United States. In 2000 AOL merged with Time Warner Inc., in a deal that subsequently proved disappointing to both parties. America Online officially [...] AOL offers Internet users services that include e-mail (the service’s “You’ve Got Mail” alert to subscribers became lodged in the popular culture), AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) software, AOL Video, video search, news, sports, weather, stock quotes, and MapQuest, an online source of maps and directions. The company also markets IN2TV, where subscribers can watch certain classic television shows over the Internet at no extra charge, and TMZ.com, a leading celebrity news site, developed in [...] Britannica Money Biz Stone and Evan Williams Case, Steve Yahoo! Inc. # AOL Biz Stone and Evan Williams Case, Steve Yahoo! Inc. AOL AOL, one of the largest Internet-access subscription service companies in the United States, providing a range of Web services for users. AOL was one of the first companies to establish a strong sense of community among its users through buddy lists and instant messaging services, which transmit billions of messages daily.

• AOL - 2025 Company Profile & Team

  AOL - About the company ----------------------- AOL is an acquired company based in New York City (United States), founded in 1983 bySteve Case, Jim Kimsey, Marc Seriff and William von Meister. It operates as a Provider of online news, entertainment, and financial content. The company has 198 active competitors, including 41 funded and 41 that have exited. Its top competitor s include companies like Webedia, Vox Media and Rediff.com. ### Company Details [...] Provider of online news, entertainment, and financial content. It delivers a curated selection of articles and information across various categories, including news, politics, sports, finance, health, and lifestyle. The platform aggregates content from multiple sources and presents it in a user-friendly format. Users can access articles, videos, and other media related to current events, financial markets, and popular culture. The service also includes features such as personalized news feeds [...] Provider of online news, entertainment, and financial content. It delivers a curated selection of articles and information across various categories, including news, politics, sports, finance, health, and lifestyle. The platform aggregates content from multiple sources and presents it in a user-friendly format. Users can access articles, videos, and other media related to current events, financial markets, and popular culture. The service also includes features such as personalized news feeds

• Image

  

• Country

  United States

• Founder

  Steve Case

• Employees

  5,600

• Instance Of

  Q186165

• Headquarters

  New York City

• Inception Date

  1/1/1983

AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET. PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link (Q-Link), who went online in November 1985. A new IBM PC client launched in 1988, eventually renamed as America Online in 1989. AOL grew to become the largest online service, displacing established players like CompuServe and The Source. By 1995, AOL had about three million active users. AOL was one of the early pioneers of the Internet in the mid-1990s, and the most recognized brand on the web in the United States. It originally provided a dial-up service to millions of Americans, pioneered instant messaging, and in 1993 began adding internet access. In 1998, AOL purchased Netscape for $4.2 billion. In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. history. AOL rapidly shrank thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband. AOL was eventually 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. On June 23, 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion. On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced it would sell Yahoo and AOL to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.