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28 Sep 2010 20:38

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Tech: TechCrunch sells to AOL: Now they can focus on writing

  • They run the largest blogging network in the world and if we sold to them we’d never have to worry about tech issues again. We could focus our engineering resources on higher end things and I, for one, could spend more of my day writing and a lot less time dealing with other stuff.
  • Techcrunch founder Michael Arrington • Explaining why he agreed to let AOL buy his company. Simply put – he thinks AOL’s content vision is really compatible with what the company already does. But the really interesting part? TechCrunch will be ensured editorial freedom from AOL. Arrington says that AOL CEO Tim Armstrong thought “was important that we feel free to criticize AOL when we think they deserve it. And the agreement we signed with AOL fully reflects this.” That’s a big deal. Who knows how much TechCrunch sold for? Who cares? Having such a strong backbone of support makes the whole thing worth it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Aug 2010 09:55

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Biz: AOL has another big loss, caused by a “goodwill charge” this time

  • $1.06
    billion     the size of AOL’s quarterly loss, caused partly by declining advertising and partly due to a “goodwill charge”
  • $1.4
    billion     the size of that “goodwill charge,” partly due to selling Bebo for pennies on the dollar source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jun 2010 11:06

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Tech: AOL sells its forgotten social networking lemon, Bebo

  • $850
    million     amount AOL spent on Bebo, a Facebook wannabe, when they bought it two years ago
  • chump
    change     amount AOL likely sold Bebo for today; it was a terrible investment for the company source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 10:23

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Biz: AOL’s profit picture looks a lot worse than it did a year ago

  • $48
    million     decrease in AOL’s profit
    between this quarter and the
    same quarter a year ago
  • 4.6
    million     number of people who STILL subscribe to AOL’s legacy service after all these years source
  • » Why the cruddy profits? It’s worth keeping in mind that AOL is a different company than it was a year ago. The company, fresh after leaving the disastrous merger with Time Warner which hurt both companies, is in the midst of making a big push into content, away from its core subscription business. (Disclosure: We freelance for AOL News occasionally.) Even considering that, their profit picture is significantly lower than expected – instead of the analyst-expected 70 cents per share, they could only muster 39 cents per share. Part of this is due to the quickly-falling legacy subscriber base and part of it is due to continuing advertising declines.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 10:31

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Biz: AOL’s first post-Time Warner quarter shows a (tiny) profit

  • $1.4
    million     the amount AOL made in profits this quarter, their first since being spun out of Time Warner’s lair
  • $1.96
    billion     the amount AOL lost in the same quarter a year ago; their subscriber rates are still dropping source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Nov 2009 10:43

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Biz, Tech: AOL’s looking to get rid of a lot of freaking people

  • 2,500 workers number of people wanted for voluntary buyouts; if they don’t get those buyouts, they turn into layoffs source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2009 11:12

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Music: It’s a bit early to pick the best and worst album covers of 2009, but …

albumcovers0811
  • … AOL makes a pretty compelling case for doing it now. One of these album covers was selected as the best; one was selected as the worst. Can you tell which?source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Aug 2009 16:37

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Biz, Tech: Are you an out-of-work journalist? Come a-knockin’ on AOL’s door

  • 1,500 journos hired by AOL in the last year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 May 2009 10:15

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Biz, Tech: Time Warner’s ready to drop AOL like a bad habit

  • AOL was a haven for newbies that was fairly popular, distributed too many free CDs and ran Netscape into the ground. source
  • AOL was big enough in 2000 to buy out Time Warner for $106 billion. Then Time Warner became bigger than AOL again. source
  • A decade later, AOL has completely lost relevance and Time Warner’s planning to spin them back off. Good riddance. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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