Steve Case's Virginia online services company — the first mass-market internet service provider — famous for its CD-ROM distribution strategy, AIM instant messenger, and the catastrophic merger with Time Warner in 2001.
Brings the internet to mainstream America — AOL's easy-to-install software and dial-up service was how tens of millions of Americans first experienced the internet; the AOL-Time Warner merger ($350B) became the canonical example of tech hubris and media convergence failure.
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