Google Leaves AOL (Like Everyone Else Already Did)
posted Tuesday Jul 28, 2009 by Scott Ertz
Google has sold its 5% stake in AOL back to Time Warner for $283 million. That is a lot of money for 5% of a company that is in the toilet. But now the bad news: they spent $1 billion to acquire the same 5% in 2005. Eep.
Obviously, this could be a huge business fail on Google's part, spending that kind of money on a company we all knew was going to die, but it could have also been a huge strategic move, adding themselves into the software and integrating to a point that AOL search will forever be powered by Google, no matter their financial stake. That extends their visibility to the 8 people who still use AOL for something other that AIM.
Weigh in: epic fail or strategic plan?
