Nine years after its disastrous 164-billion-dollar merger with Time Warner, Internet pioneer AOL traded as an independent public company for the first time Thursday.
Shares of the once mighty Internet provider were down more than 2 percent in pre-market trading as investors and analysts questioned its ability to thrive in the modern online world as it tries to create content that will attract millions of users and help it sell advertising.
AOL shares, issued at 23.67 dollars, fell 67 cents, or 2.8 percent, to 23 dollars, in early trading, while shares of Time Warner Inc climbed 1.12 dollars, or 3.8 percent, to 30.34 dollars. The company is valued at just 2.5 billion dollars.
AOL, originally founded in 1983, rose to be an Internet giant capable of merging with the world’s largest media company on the strength of subscription sales to its dial-up service and proprietary Internet sites.
But almost before the ink was dry on the deal the dotcom bust hit in 2001, decimating advertising sales at the same time as the spread of broadband hit AOL’s dial-up service. The company now has just 5.4 million subscribers compared to 26.7 million at its 2002 peak.
AOL plans to reverse the decline in its fortunes with a network of new and existing Web sites, powered by the mission statement: “To inform, entertain, and connect the world.”
The company employs more than 2,000 full or part-time writers and designers creating content across scores of sites and has hired high- profile New York Times tech journalist Saul Hansell to run Seed.com, the company’s new content management and acquisition platform.