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Message
Verizon buys AOL for $4.4 Billion
Posted on 5/12/15 at 12:10 pm
Posted on 5/12/15 at 12:10 pm
quote:
LINK
Verizon is buying AOL for about $4.4 billion, or $50 a share, the companies announced Tuesday.
The deal aims to create a major new player in the digital media business by combining one of the biggest mobile network providers with a leading content producer.
It's part of Verizon's (VZ, Tech30) plan to dominate a future in which all content -- from TV channels to publications -- are streamed over the Internet.
Why? Who in the world approved the valuation for this acquisition? I haven't looked at AOL's income statement or balance sheet and even I can tell with a fair degree of confidence that this probably going to turn out bad for Verizon. MySpace anyone?
11
Posted on 5/12/15 at 12:21 pm to hikingfan
quote:
MySpace anyone?
You could have just referenced the last time AOL was involved in a big deal. (Time Warner)
Posted on 5/12/15 at 12:26 pm to hikingfan
I simply cannot contemplate a world in which AOL is worth $4.4 billion - maybe at one time - in the 90s. But, since broadband - what has AOL done, as a business model, to hold anything like this much value? I asked myself, "Are they really sending dialup CDs all over Africa, Latin America and SE Asia and keeping subscriber numbers up that way?" 
So - I looked. Apparently they own things such as HuffPo, Moviephone, Engadget, TechCrunch, Cambio - a lot of things they leveraged with their early dominance of casual internet users. They still own MapQuest, plus their massive advertising arm.
So, in the grand scheme of things, this may not be as bad a deal as it looks on the surface. It is not your father's AOL, I guess.
So - I looked. Apparently they own things such as HuffPo, Moviephone, Engadget, TechCrunch, Cambio - a lot of things they leveraged with their early dominance of casual internet users. They still own MapQuest, plus their massive advertising arm.
So, in the grand scheme of things, this may not be as bad a deal as it looks on the surface. It is not your father's AOL, I guess.
This post was edited on 5/12/15 at 12:27 pm
Posted on 5/12/15 at 12:27 pm to hikingfan
quote:
Why? Who in the world approved the valuation for this acquisition? I haven't looked at AOL's income statement or balance sheet and even I can tell with a fair degree of confidence that this probably going to turn out bad for Verizon. MySpace anyone?
They own a lot that you don't realize is AOL like MapQuest and Huffington Post. I have to imagine this is where the valuation comes from.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 1:08 pm to usc6158
Posted on 5/12/15 at 1:48 pm to Ace Midnight
quote:
Apparently they own things such as HuffPo, Moviephone, Engadget, TechCrunch, Cambio
Last time Verizon was involved with a tech news/media site, they supposedly banned the authors from writing about surveillance and net neutrality.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 1:58 pm to hikingfan
quote:
Verizon is buying AOL for about $4.4 billion
i thought you were going to say for $4.40
Posted on 5/12/15 at 2:30 pm to Teddy Ruxpin
quote:
You could have just referenced the last time AOL was involved in a big deal. (Time Warner)
The biggest corporate write-off in history. Time Warner took a loss of $99 billion in 2002 just one year after paying $164 billion to acquire AOL.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 2:53 pm to Korkstand
quote:
Last time Verizon was involved with a tech news/media site, they supposedly banned the authors from writing about surveillance and net neutrality.
This is an incredibly dangerous acquisition for this very reason.
It's quite obvious what Verizon wants to do here - they want to control the narrative on certain topics such as net neutrality. They've realized that, unlike ~20 years ago, it may no longer be sufficient to simply wave money in front of politicians and get what they want. Instead, the entire internet seems to galvanize in opposition to almost every move they make.
However, what if they could start to control the flow of that information? What if they could start to control the narrative on certain heated topics, such that the opposition to their actions would be severely dampened?
That's exactly what this move is all about - and now they're in full control of two of the more prominent tech sites.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 2:57 pm to hikingfan
my friend was working for AOL as a cpa making bank
AOL was doing lots of overseas business still and actually owns a few online magazines and papers.
AOL was doing lots of overseas business still and actually owns a few online magazines and papers.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 4:36 pm to euphemus
quote:
The biggest corporate write-off in history. Time Warner took a loss of $99 billion in 2002 just one year after paying $164 billion to acquire AOL.
Ya, it was ugly
Posted on 5/12/15 at 6:36 pm to hikingfan
It's a good bet that the buyers actually did look at the financial statements. And it's not out of line for a company with revenue of half a billion.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:13 pm to hikingfan
Ha! Ha! And to think... Mark Cuban sold Yahoo the rights to Broadcast.com for 5.7 billion bucks, then turned around and sold all of it at it's peak..... Just before the dot.com bubble burst. Back then AOL was valued at probably close to $150 billion, now... just $4.4.
You've got mail, AOL. it says, "bye-bye!"
You've got mail, AOL. it says, "bye-bye!"
Posted on 5/12/15 at 7:53 pm to hikingfan
AOL still had value?
Posted on 5/12/15 at 10:00 pm to euphemus
quote:
The biggest corporate write-off in history. Time Warner took a loss of $99 billion in 2002 just one year after paying $164 billion to acquire AOL.
AOL actually bought Time Warner...
Posted on 5/12/15 at 10:55 pm to hikingfan
quote:
Verizon buys AOL for $4.4 Billion
Really thought this was a joke because it is so utterly insane.
Posted on 5/12/15 at 10:57 pm to StraightCashHomey21
quote:
actually owns a few online magazines and papers
Because we all know online magazines and newspapers are the wave of the future...
Posted on 6/23/15 at 3:08 pm to hikingfan
Posted on 6/23/15 at 3:16 pm to hikingfan
dammit, Kork
I thought this sounded familiar
I thought this sounded familiar
This post was edited on 6/23/15 at 3:18 pm
Posted on 6/23/15 at 3:19 pm to junkfunky
So basically, AOL is now equal to 110% of the cost of 90 days of artist payouts on Apple Music.
Interesting to think about.
Interesting to think about.
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