Editing AOL (section)

=== 1991–2006: Internet age, Time Warner merger ===
[[File:America Online logo.svg|thumb|left|First AOL logo as "America Online", used from 1991 to 2005]]
In February 1991, AOL for [[DOS]] was launched using a [[GEOS (16-bit operating system)#GeoWorks Ensemble|GeoWorks]] interface; it was followed a year later by AOL for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]].<ref name="history" /> This coincided with growth in pay-based online services, like [[Prodigy (online service)|Prodigy]], [[CompuServe]], and [[GEnie]].

During the early 1990s, the average subscription lasted for about 25 months and accounted for $350 in total revenue. Advertisements invited modem owners to "Try America Online FREE", promising free software and trial membership.<ref name="aol199408">{{Cite magazine |date=August 1994 |title=Own a Modem? |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=121 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102213537/http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=121 |archive-date=January 2, 2018 |access-date=January 1, 2018 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=117–118}}</ref> AOL discontinued [[Quantum Link|Q-Link]] and PC Link in late 1994. In September 1993, AOL added [[Usenet]] access to its features.<ref>{{Cite web |title=September That Never Ended |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/September-that-never-ended.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716182451/http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/September-that-never-ended.html |archive-date=July 16, 2012 |access-date=July 8, 2011 |website=Catb.org}}</ref> This is commonly referred to as the "[[Eternal September]]", as Usenet's cycle of new users was previously dominated by smaller numbers of college and university freshmen gaining access in September and taking a few weeks to acclimate. This also coincided with a new "carpet bombing" marketing campaign by CMO [[Jan Brandt]] to distribute as many free trial AOL trial disks as possible through nonconventional distribution partners. At one point, 50% of the [[Compact disc|CD]]s produced worldwide had an AOL logo.<ref name="tc">{{Cite web |last=Siegler |first=MG |date=December 27, 2010 |title=How Much Did It Cost AOL to Send Us Those CDs in the 90s? "A Lot!," Says Steve Case |url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323072451/https://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/ |archive-date=March 23, 2019 |access-date=March 4, 2017 |website=TechCrunch}}</ref> AOL quickly surpassed [[GEnie]], and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and [[CompuServe]].<ref name="Warner" /> In November 1994, AOL purchased Booklink for its web browser, to give its users web access.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewis, Peter |date=1994-11-10 |title=America Online Buys 2 Internet Companies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/10/business/america-online-buys-2-internet-companies.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903181426/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/10/business/america-online-buys-2-internet-companies.html |archive-date=September 3, 2020 |access-date=July 1, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In 1996, AOL replaced Booklink with a browser based on Internet Explorer, reportedly in exchange for inclusion of AOL in Windows.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hu |first=Jim |date=2002-01-02 |title=AOL Exec Details Choosing IE |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/aol-exec-details-choosing-ie/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701024844/https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/aol-exec-details-choosing-ie/ |archive-date=July 1, 2022 |access-date=July 1, 2022 |publisher=[[CNET]]}}</ref>

AOL launched services with the [[National Education Association]], the [[American Federation of Teachers]], ''[[National Geographic]]'', the [[Smithsonian Institution]], the [[Library of Congress]], [[Pearson plc|Pearson]], [[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic]], [[Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development|ASCD]], [[National School Boards Association|NSBA]], NCTE, [[Discovery Communications|Discovery Networks]], [[Turner Broadcasting System|Turner]] Education Services ([[CNN Newsroom]]), [[NPR]], [[The Princeton Review]], [[Stanley Kaplan]], [[Barron's Educational Series|Barron's]], [[Highlights for Kids]], the [[United States Department of Education|US Department of Education]], and many other education providers. AOL offered the first real-time homework help service (the Teacher Pager—1990; prior to this, AOL provided homework help bulletin boards), the first service by children, for children (Kids Only Online, 1991), the first online service for parents (the Parents Information Network, 1991), the first online courses (1988), the first omnibus service for teachers (the Teachers' Information Network, 1990), the first online exhibit ([[Library of Congress]], 1991), the first parental controls, and many other online education firsts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michael Wolff |title=Netstudy |publisher=Dell Publishing |year=1997}}</ref>

AOL purchased search engine [[WebCrawler]] in 1995, but sold it to [[Excite (web portal)|Excite]] the following year; the deal made Excite the sole search and directory service on AOL.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 25, 1996 |title=AOL Gets Excited |url=https://money.cnn.com/1996/11/25/technology/excite/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108045923/https://money.cnn.com/1996/11/25/technology/excite/ |archive-date=January 8, 2019 |access-date=January 13, 2019 |website=[[CNN]] |location=New York}}</ref> After the deal closed in March 1997, AOL launched its own branded search engine, based on Excite, called NetFind. This was renamed to AOL Search in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 5, 2007 |title=History of AOL Search |url=https://searchengineland.com/history-of-aol-search-11634 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114044601/https://searchengineland.com/history-of-aol-search-11634 |archive-date=January 14, 2019 |access-date=January 13, 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Nostalgia (7539894906).jpg|thumb|America Online 2.0 software for Microsoft Windows (1994)]]
AOL charged its users an hourly fee until December 1996,<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 27, 1997 |title=For $19.95 a Month, Unlimited Headaches for AOL |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/company/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160120100632/http://www.bloomberg.com/company/ |archive-date=2016-01-20 |website=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref> when the company changed to a flat monthly rate of $19.95.<ref name="history" /> During this time, AOL connections were flooded with users trying to connect, and many canceled their accounts due to constant [[busy signal]]s. A commercial was made featuring Steve Case telling people AOL was working day and night to fix the problem. Within three years, AOL's user base grew to 10&nbsp;million people. In 1995, AOL was headquartered at 8619 Westwood Center Drive in the [[Tysons, Virginia|Tysons Corner CDP]] in [[unincorporated area|unincorporated]] [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]], Virginia in the [[Washington, D.C. metropolitan area]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 17, 2005 |title=Encyclopedia.com |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-832840.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119074042/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-832840.html |archive-date=November 19, 2009 |access-date=May 7, 2009 |work=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tysons Corner CDP, Virginia |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=16000US5179952&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=saff&_lang=en&_sse=on |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110181002/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=16000US5179952&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=saff&_lang=en&_sse=on |archive-date=November 10, 2011 |access-date=May 7, 2009 |website=Census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]}}</ref> near the [[Vienna, Virginia|Town of Vienna]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sugawara |first=Sandra |date=October 13, 1994 |title=America Online to Reduce Rates; Firm Faces Subscriber Boycott, Pressure from Competitors |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/72288466.xml?dids=72288466:72288466&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+13%2C+1994&author=Sandra+Sugawara&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=America+Online+to+Reduce+Rates%3B+Firm+Faces+Subscriber+Boycott%2C+Pressure+From+Competitors&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729013454/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/72288466.xml?dids=72288466:72288466&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+13%2C+1994&author=Sandra+Sugawara&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=America+Online+to+Reduce+Rates%3B+Firm+Faces+Subscriber+Boycott%2C+Pressure+From+Competitors&pqatl=google |archive-date=July 29, 2013 |access-date=May 7, 2009 |work=[[The Washington Post]] |page=B09}}</ref>

AOL was quickly running out of room in October 1996 for its network at the Fairfax County campus. In mid-1996, AOL moved to 22000 AOL Way in [[Dulles, Virginia|Dulles]], unincorporated [[Loudoun County, Virginia|Loudoun County]], Virginia to provide room for future growth.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2008 |title=Company Overview |url=http://corp.aol.com/about-aol/company-overview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208121604/http://corp.aol.com/about-aol/company-overview |archive-date=February 8, 2008 |website=corp.aol.com |publisher=AOL}}</ref> In a five-year landmark agreement with the most popular operating system, AOL was bundled with [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] software.<ref>{{Cite book |last=David Bank |url=https://archive.org/details/breakingwindowsh00bank |title=Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumbled the Future of Microsoft |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7432-0315-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/breakingwindowsh00bank/page/105 105] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

On March 31, 1996, the short-lived [[eWorld]] was purchased by AOL. In 1997, about half of all US homes with Internet access had it through AOL.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 2014 |title=The Fall of Facebook |work=[[The Atlantic]] |page=35}}</ref> During this time, AOL's content channels, under [[Jason Seiken]], including News, Sports, and Entertainment, experienced their greatest growth as AOL become the dominant online service internationally with more than 34&nbsp;million subscribers.

In February 1998, AOL acquired [[CompuServe]] Interactive Services (CIS) via [[WorldCom]] (later [[Verizon]]), which kept Compuware's networking business.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 2, 1998 |title=WorldCom/Compuserve Merger – Feb. 2, 1998 |url=https://www.verizon.com/about/news/worldcomcompuserve-merger-completed |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602064746/https://www.verizon.com/about/news/worldcomcompuserve-merger-completed |archive-date=June 2, 2024 |access-date=June 2, 2024}}</ref>

In November 1998, AOL announced it would acquire [[Netscape]], best known for their [[Netscape (web browser)|web browser]], in a major $4.2&nbsp;billion deal.<ref name=history/> The deal closed on March 17, 1999. Another large acquisition in December 1999 was that of [[MapQuest]], for $1.1&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 22, 1999 |title=AOL Acquires MapQuest |url=https://money.cnn.com/1999/12/22/deals/aol/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007153642/http://money.cnn.com/1999/12/22/deals/aol/ |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |access-date=January 13, 2019 |website=[[CNN]]}}</ref>

[[File:AOL Time Warner Logo.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|left]]
In January 2000, as new broadband technologies were being rolled out around the New York City metropolitan area and elsewhere across the United States, AOL and [[Time Warner Entertainment]] announced plans to merge, forming AOL Time Warner, Inc. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed on January 11, 2001. The new company was led by executives from AOL, SBI, and Time Warner. [[Gerald Levin]], who had served as CEO of Time Warner, was CEO of the new company. [[Steve Case]] served as chairman, J. Michael Kelly (from AOL) was the chief financial officer, [[Robert W. Pittman]] (from AOL) and [[Richard Parsons (businessman)|Dick Parsons]] (from Time Warner) served as co-chief operating officers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tim Arango |date=January 10, 2010 |title=How the AOL-Time Warner Merger Went So Wrong |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?_r=0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122140244/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?_r=0 |archive-date=November 22, 2017 |access-date=February 21, 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> In 2002, [[Jonathan Miller (businessman)|Jonathan Miller]] became CEO of AOL.<ref name="henry2002">{{Cite news |last=Henry, Shannon |date=August 7, 2002 |title=At AOL, New Boss Largely Unknown; 'Who's Jon Miller?' Employees Ask at Dulles Offices |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-366982.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329133404/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-366982.html |archive-date=March 29, 2015 |work=[[Wash. Post]]}} ''Note: only the beginning of the news article was available, the remainder behind a paywall.''</ref> The following year, AOL Time Warner dropped the "AOL" from its name. It was the largest merger in history when completed with the combined value of the companies at $360&nbsp;billion. This value fell sharply, to as low as $120&nbsp;billion, as markets repriced AOL's valuation as a pure internet firm more modestly when combined with the traditional media and cable business. This status did not last long, and the company's value rose again within three months. By the end of that year, the tide had turned against "pure" internet companies, with many collapsing under falling stock prices, and even the strongest companies in the field losing up to 75% of their [[market value]]. The decline continued though 2001, but even with the losses, AOL was among the internet giants that continued to outperform [[brick and mortar]] companies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bryer |first=Lanning |title=Intellectual Property Assets in Mergers and Acquisitions |last2=Seminsky |first2=Melvin |date=2002 |publisher=Wiley}}</ref>

In 2004, along with the launch of AOL 9.0 Optimized, AOL also made available the option of personalized greetings which would enable the user to hear his or her name while accessing basic functions and mail alerts, or while logging in or out. In 2005, AOL broadcast the [[Live 8]] concert live over the Internet, and thousands of users downloaded clips of the concert over the following months.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=July 29, 2006 |title=Live 8 |magazine=Billboard |page=22}}</ref> In late 2005, AOL released AOL Safety & Security Center, a bundle of [[McAfee Antivirus]], [[Computer Associates|CA]] anti-spyware, and proprietary [[Firewall (computing)|firewall]] and [[Anti-phishing software|phishing protection]] software.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jeff Bertolucci |date=July 2007 |title=Protect Your PC |journal=Kiplinger's Personal Finance}}</ref> News reports in late 2005 identified companies such as [[Yahoo!]], [[Microsoft]], and [[Google]] as candidates for turning AOL into a joint venture.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yang |first=Catherine |date=November 11, 2005 |title=Has AOL Met Its Match? |url=http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2005-11-10/has-aol-met-its-match |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102033341/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2005-11-10/has-aol-met-its-match |archive-date=2013-01-02 |access-date=August 1, 2006 |work=[[BusinessWeek]]}}</ref> Those plans were abandoned when it was revealed on December 20, 2005, that Google would purchase a 5% share of AOL for $1&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vise |first=David |date=December 17, 2005 |title=Google to Buy 5% of AOL for $1 Billion |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/12/17/google-to-buy-5-of-aol-for-1-billion/651b9148-d354-4405-ad37-8afecffd15b9/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130143133/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/12/17/google-to-buy-5-of-aol-for-1-billion/651b9148-d354-4405-ad37-8afecffd15b9/ |archive-date=November 30, 2024 |access-date=May 23, 2024 |work=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>