Welcome.
You’ve got mail.
Goodbye.
Today, AOL officially spins off from TimeWarner as an independent company, the last remnant of a merger originally announced in 2000, where the company was briefly known as AOL Time Warner. AOL had 30 million subscribers at its peek, when they were the leader in online access.
Here is a brief history of AOL, known at its peak as America Online.
1980s: Control Video Corporation is founded. Its sole product is Gameline, which allows users to download game to Atari video game systems, using a modem built into a cartridge. Games are $1 rentals which expired after multiple plays or when the console was shut off. The company also pitched music downloads to cable TV boxes, but it was rejected by the music labels. Namely Warner Music.
1983: Future CEO Steve Case joined the company, near bankruptcy, which was reorganized under new management
1985: Company is renamed Quantum Computer Services. Launch online network for Commodore 64 and 128 computers called Quantum Link (Q-Link for short).
1988: AppleLink is created as a joint venture with Apple for Macintosh computers. PC Link is launched for PCs.
1989: Joint venture with Apple ends. Service and company is renamed America Online.
1996: AOL institutes a $19.99 unlimited access rate. Membership explodes.
2000: AOL announces a merger with Time Warner. The new company, finalized in 2001 was called AOL Time Warner.
2003: AOL Time Warner removes AOL from its name, returning to the Time Warner name. AOL remains a division of the company.
2009: Time Warner spins off AOL into a separate company, officially ending the relationship caused by the merger.
