—— Forwarded Message From: Wilson Zehr
The guys at Qwest pretty much did the same thing. Sold “the promise” of their OC 148 fiber backbone. Got GTE to lease a piece before it was even built. Then used the company as a vehicle to acquire US West. Viola, a real business…
Wilson
—–Original Message—– From: Ian Andrew Bell [mailto:hello [at] ianbell [dot] com] Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 3:20 PM To: foib [at] ianbell [dot] com Subject: @F: New Strategy for AOL..
Essentially, if AOL had not purchased Time Warner at the height of the bubble, ask yourself what AOL’s value would be today? Probably not much. So, like others of their ilk, the smart guys at AOL saw their precarious position and bought an established, credible media giant as a parachute.
Viewed in today’s context then, the value of [allegedly] 30 million users measured against the value of Time Warner’s cable assets, vast media library, and other profitable businesses is paltry.
-Ian.