

3.13 Hosting of user profiles changed, then discontinuedĪOL began in 1983, as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (or CVC), founded by William von Meister.3.11 AOL's Computer Checkup "scareware".1.2 1991–2006: Internet age, Time Warner merger.On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced it would sell Yahoo and AOL to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. On June 23, 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies. AOL was eventually spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. AOL rapidly shrank thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up and rise of broadband. In 2001, at the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. It originally provided a dial-up service to millions of Americans, as well as providing a web portal, e-mail, instant messaging and later a web browser following its purchase of Netscape. ĪOL 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. By 1995, AOL had about three million active users. AOL grew to become the largest online service, displacing established players like CompuServe and The Source. A new IBM PC client launched in 1988, eventually renamed as America Online in 1989.

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PlayNET licensed its software to Quantum Link (Q-Link), who went online in November 1985. The service traces its history to an online service known as PlayNET. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc.
