apple buying AOL?

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k_munick_munic
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
just a thought:



iTMS is now integrated in aol services...

time warner has "canceled" the aol in its name...

apple has lots of cash...



would that make sense?

+ a big community

+ aol is a software and content company

+ it would show MANY people the advantages of apple (imagine an aqua gui on a window machine )

+ you can serve secure music, movies etc to the people...



what is the actual "price" of aol?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    eWorld 2!!!



    AOL is more than Apple could afford, and rather undesirable anyway...
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  • Reply 2 of 12
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    AOL is destined to failure. It took them how long to figure out that a low priced dial up version might be a good idea?
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  • Reply 3 of 12
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    Ask Time Warner stock holders how good it is to be in cahoots with AOL.
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  • Reply 4 of 12
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Worst. Idea. Ever.



    Well, second only to Apple buying Sony or Microsoft.
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  • Reply 5 of 12
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Apple wouldn't take AOL onboard for free, let alone buy them. AOL is a dot com bubble company with a questionable future.
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  • Reply 6 of 12
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The alliance with AOL is purely tactical: Right now, AOL has a huge number of subscribers and a very popular music site, and right now Apple is beating analysts and media over the head with the refrain that they're #1 and hellbent on taking over and expanding the Windows market (which, as Steve deliciously pointed out, is currently less than half the size of the Mac market). This alliance is part of that strategy.



    Once iTMS is entrenched on Windows, Apple won't need AOL anymore, but the terms of the alliance will make it sensible to keep them around - it's no skin off Apple's nose if fewer and fewer referrals come from AOL over time. The point is to show people that they can get 25 million potential customers now, when it matters most.



    I don't think Apple will attempt any large mergers or acquisitions, frankly. They're expensive, they're risky, and it takes years to assimilate the two companies, or at least settle them into some sort of coexistence (Compaq, for instance, has utterly failed to assimilate Digital Equipment even after all these years). If Apple acquires companies they'll be small; if the companies are large, Apple will simply work with them. It's much easier to go that way in the long run.
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  • Reply 7 of 12
    ryaxnbryaxnb Posts: 583member
    Apple has a partnership with Earthlink, you know. No.
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  • Reply 8 of 12
    ryaxnbryaxnb Posts: 583member
    What's wrong with Apple buying MS? If they had enough money (i.e. tons more then now) they could buy MS, kill them, and be happy.
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  • Reply 9 of 12
    macserverxmacserverx Posts: 217member
    And if Apple had that much money...wouldn't Microsoft already be dead?
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  • Reply 10 of 12
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by k_munic

    jwhat is the actual "price" of aol?



    Well, prior to AOL Time Warner posting a net loss of US$99 Billion, they were worth nearly US$155 Billion. Now, reports set the net worth of the company at about US$58 Billion. That's just its net worth. You should be so lucky as to get to buy the company at that price.



    It's damn near the largest corporation on the planet, man.
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  • Reply 11 of 12
    k_munick_munic Posts: 357member
    thank you very much everybody for commenting this idea



    @brad: hey, one of my worst idea ever was to drink & drive... and to jump down that cliff. and... no, THIS was NOT my worst idea...



    @amorph: no tactical mergers with "not business core" related companies - you're right...



    @ryaxnb: from my point of view. what is earthlink? never seen here in this part of the planet! aol is a different caliber...



    @LoCash: aha. nice price for a company with such (see above comments) an image.





    ok, it was just a thought.



    have a nice weekend, everybody!
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  • Reply 12 of 12
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    I'm pretty sure the Catholic Church is the largest corporation



    Anyhow, I don't know if you paid attention to it all, but the AOL and Time Warner merger has been a complete and total nightmare. It's largely been heralded as the number one worst business decision of all time; the merger that never should have been. I don't think anybody is going to want to buy that company now.
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