Wednesday's news marks a new chapter for AOL, which was once one of the most recognized brands on the internet, known for its email service and "You've Got Mail" notification.
Buy a company which already has a vast historical user base and a well known brand for fuckall because it’s dieing, then make it good again and sell it off for more than fuckall.
The idea here is to rebrand and modernize AOL as a gmail and cyber security alternative with decoupled infrastructure from US dependencies: A highly political topic in the EU currently.
Interesting, thanks for digging that up. Looks like it didn’t pan out. At least in France, they arrived just as the local market was building itself, and it seems they didn’t manage to get a foot in the door. Maybe they got more lucky in other markets.
Can someone plausibly explain the Bending Spoons business model?
Big chunk of debt financing for decrepit brands with old tech. Other than strip-mining user data, I can’t figure it out.
Buy a company which already has a vast historical user base and a well known brand for fuckall because it’s dieing, then make it good again and sell it off for more than fuckall.
They, as far as I’m aware, are not reselling like private equity would. They actually take over operations and get ROI through profits.
The idea here is to rebrand and modernize AOL as a gmail and cyber security alternative with decoupled infrastructure from US dependencies: A highly political topic in the EU currently.
What should we call our service so people are clear it’s free of American influence… Hmmm ‘America On Line’
Europe On Line? EOL? End of line.
EOL? Y’all are going with an End Of Life service? Bold move cotton.
I believe Europe Online was a service about the time when AOL was a thing
Doesn’t ring a bell… not to say it didn’t exist, but it probably wasn’t very large at the time.
It was dial-up service and web site. It wasn’t very big, but i think it was around for some time. This is the best i could find: https://variety.com/1995/digital/features/europe-online-gets-at-amp-t-dialtone-99124960/
Interesting, thanks for digging that up. Looks like it didn’t pan out. At least in France, they arrived just as the local market was building itself, and it seems they didn’t manage to get a foot in the door. Maybe they got more lucky in other markets.
Doesn’t mean they will keep the name for EU customers. The value there is in the IP and the infrastructure configuration.
Thus the term: Rebrand.