- In the 90's and early 2000s AOL was the most recognized brand on the Internet!
- At one point, America Online had over 35 million dial-up subscribers!
- AOL Time Warner merger was valued at $350B, exceeding Russia’s or Australia’s GDP!
- Famous “You’ve Got Mail” greeting inspired a sweet romantic Comedy with same name!
- At its peak, half of all CDs in the world were produced with America Online logo!
- “Running Man” mascot appeared in 2003 commercial with Sharon Stone!
- AOL Discs have become vintage collectibles with some rare and many unique designs!
- Free CD-ROMs were distributed in many unexpected places, such as:
*Cereal Boxes, * Frozen Omaha Steaks, *Meal trays during Flights, *NASCAR Races,
*Tradeshows, *Concerts, *Post Offices, *In Playboy Magazines, *Super Bowl Seats!
- In 1989 AOL hired voice actor Elwood Edwards to record classic "You've Got Mail",
"Welcome, "Goodbye" and "File's done"!
- Elwood was paid $200 and recorded his voice on a cassette tape in his living room!
1983 starts as Control Video Corporation (CVC)
1985 becomes Quantum Computer Services
1985 licenses software from PlayNet
1985 launches Q-Link gaming service for Commodore 64/128
1988 partners with Apple, creates AppleLink Personal Edition
1988 starts PC-Link with Tandy Corp. for IBM Compatible PCs
1989 ends AppleLink, renames service to America Online (for MACs)
1990 develops Promenade Online Service for IBM PS/1 Computers
1991 launches AOL for DOS using GeoWorks interface
1992 releases America Online ver1.0 for Windows
1992 goes public with AOL stock, $11.50 per share
1993 starts sending millions of FREE Trial Discs
1994 embarks on acquisition of web/data companies
1997 acquires CompuServe (CIS) for $175 million
1999 buys MapQuest for $1.1B, Netscape for $4.2B
2000 merges with Time Warner, creates largest US merger in history
2009 separates from Time Warner, AOL is spun off
2015 Verizon buys AOL for $4.4 billion, Yahoo! for $4.8B in 2017
2017 Verizon merges AOL with Yahoo! and forms Oath Inc.
2019 Verizon rebrands AOL & Yahoo! as "Verizon Media"
2021 Verizon sells AOL & Yahoo! for $5B to Apollo Global Management
2021 AOL brand becomes part of Yahoo! Inc
2025 Around 1.5 million customers still pay for various AOL services