AOL Time Warner AOL Time Warner is a media giant formed by the merger of AOL and Time Warner announced in 2000.
AOL Time Warner owns a series of highly valuable brands, including CNN, Netscape, HBO, Time Magazine, Time Warner Cable, and Warner Bros. At present, AOL Time Warner’s revenue is mainly divided into six businesses: America Online (ISP), TV and Radio Division, Cable TV Division, Publishing, Film and Television Entertainment, and Music.
AOL is the world’s leading ISP. Its other company, CompuServe, is positioned as a value-added business. In addition, AOL offers the following free services: Digital Cities (local city guides), Map Finder, AOLMoviefone (video-related information and ticket booking services), ICQ, AOLInstantMessager, Spinner (streaming music), and Winamp downloads.
Cable TV: Aspects include CNN, TBS, HBO and Cinemax, CartoonNetwork, TNT and WB TV networks. Time Warner Cable provides cable TV services to 12.80 million U.S. customers.
Publishing business: It currently publishes more than 64 magazines. Among the five best-selling magazines in the United States, Time Warner has occupied 4, namely “Time”, “People”, “Sports Expo” and “Fortune”. In addition, other famous magazines include Entertainment Weekly, Money, InStyle, etc.
Film and television entertainment business: It has been a global leader in feature films, television, home video, animation, and production/trademark licensing. The film Matrix (Matrix), Batman (Batman), ER, Friends, The West Wing, etc. are all from the company. Famous publications include “DC Comedy” and “MAD” magazine. It recently acquired the distribution rights for the first 4 episodes of “Harry Potter”. Time Warner’s NewLine Cinema is another well-known independent producer and distributor, including the popular comedy Austin Powers. Warner Music Group’s record labels include Atlantic, Elektra, London-Sire, and Rhino. Warner Music’s stars include Madonna, KidRock, and others.
Before the merger of the two companies, Time Warner was one of the largest media groups in the world. It owns CNN, TNT, Cartoon and other TV stations, as well as many famous magazines, newspapers, publishing houses and websites. It also has extremely strong competitiveness in music, movies and cable TV. Founded in 1985, AOL (America Online) was the world’s largest ISP (Internet Access Service Provider) company before the merger of the two companies, with more than 22 million users. In 1999, AOL bought the software company Netscape to shock the industry. It also owns the most popular chat software on the Internet, ICQ, and the virtual community Digital City (digitalcity). Recently, the company’s business has also shifted from online services to network technology and e-commerce, and has formed a strategic alliance with companies such as Sun to fight against Microsoft.