Your guide to the AOL-Time Warner merger

by Paul Baldwin | Jan 18, 2000 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Paul Baldwin

Takeaway: America Online's proposed acquisition of Time Warner would be the largest merger in history. Here are 12 links to help you understand its impact on the stock market, the media industry, and the IT world.

While all merger announcements are released with a certain amount of hype, you can forgive headline writers for losing their heads when discussing last week’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc. by America Online. If successful, AOL’s proposal to buy Time Warner for $165 million will be the largest merger in history, creating a true Colossus of e-commerce.

The merger’s potential to change the news, entertainment, Internet, and e-commerce landscape is staggering. But don’t just take our word for it. Here is a selection of links to news stories, commentary, and analysis on the issue.

• The New York Times has had the most comprehensive coverage of any Internet news venue, beginning with an overview describing the merger. A follow-up article speculates on how the merger could produce a monopoly that even Microsoft fears.
• USA Today wrote about how the merger will speed AOL’s access to broadband.
• MSNBC’s Chris Byron offers an analysis of how, or if, AOL Chairman Stephen Case, Time Warner Chair and CEO Gerald Levin, and Time Warner vice chairman Ted Turner will be able to work together.
• A Computerworld article tries to determine whether the merger will change the way companies design Web sites .
• A story on CNET details how AOL's employees and executives will have faster access to stock option profits worth about $13 billion.
• CNN.ASIANOW, which is owned by Time Warner, Jerry Pang, and Joe Locke, speculates that CNN.ASIANOW could become part of China.com, of which AOL owns about 8 percent.
• The Washington Post carried articles about how falling stock prices cut the value of the proposed merger, how the companies will be restructured, and how the merger may hasten the proliferation of digital music .
• You can also see a press release on the merger from AOL’s home page, and at theTime Warner home page.

Speculation has varied widely on how the proposed merger could change things? What do you think it will bring? Post a comment below.
While all merger announcements are released with a certain amount of hype, you can forgive headline writers for losing their heads when discussing last week’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc. by America Online. If successful, AOL’s proposal to buy Time Warner for $165 million will be the largest merger in history, creating a true Colossus of e-commerce.

The merger’s potential to change the news, entertainment, Internet, and e-commerce landscape is staggering. But don’t just take our word for it. Here is a selection of links to news stories, commentary, and analysis on the issue.

• The New York Times has had the most comprehensive coverage of any Internet news venue, beginning with an overview describing the merger. A follow-up article speculates on how the merger could produce a monopoly that even Microsoft fears.
• USA Today wrote about how the merger will speed AOL’s access to broadband.
• MSNBC’s Chris Byron offers an analysis of how, or if, AOL Chairman Stephen Case, Time Warner Chair and CEO Gerald Levin, and Time Warner vice chairman Ted Turner will be able to work together.
• A Computerworld article tries to determine whether the merger will change the way companies design Web sites .
• A story on CNET details how AOL's employees and executives will have faster access to stock option profits worth about $13 billion.
• CNN.ASIANOW, which is owned by Time Warner, Jerry Pang, and Joe Locke, speculates that CNN.ASIANOW could become part of China.com, of which AOL owns about 8 percent.
• The Washington Post carried articles about how falling stock prices cut the value of the proposed merger, how the companies will be restructured, and how the merger may hasten the proliferation of digital music .
• You can also see a press release on the merger from AOL’s home page, and at theTime Warner home page.

Speculation has varied widely on how the proposed merger could change things? What do you think it will bring? Post a comment below.