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|operating_income= $190.3 million (FY 2013)〔 |net_income= $92.4 million (FY 2013)〔 |assets= $2.797 billion (FY 2013)〔 |equity= $2.137 billion (FY 2013)〔 |num_employees = 5,600 |parent = Independent (1983-2001, 2009-2015) AOL Time Warner (2001-2003) Time Warner (2003-2009) Verizon Communications (2015-present) }} AOL Inc. (previously known as America Online, written as AOL and styled as Aol.) is an American multinational mass media corporation based in New York City that develops, grows, and invests in brands and web sites. The company's business spans digital distribution of content, products, and services, which it offers to consumers, publishers, and advertisers. AOL originally provided dial up service to millions of Americans. At the height of its success it merged with media conglomerate Time Warner. As dial up rapidly lost ground to broadband in the mid-2000s, AOL's fortunes significantly retracted and it lost the vast majority of its value, laying off thousands of employees. Time Warner was eventually spun off, and is worth fourteen times that of AOL, as of late 2015.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=AOL, Inc Google Finance )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Time Warner, Inc Google Finance )〕 On May 12, 2015, Verizon Communications announced plans to buy AOL for $50 per share in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. The acquisition was completed on June 23, 2015. == History == AOL began in 1983, as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (or CVC), founded by Bill von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console, after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Bros. Subscribers bought a modem from the company for US$49.95 and paid a one-time US$15 setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of US$1 per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module and playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game. In January 1983, Steve Case was hired as a marketing consultant for Control Video on the recommendation of his brother, investment banker Dan Case. In May 1983, Jim Kimsey became a manufacturing consultant for Control Video, which was near bankruptcy. Kimsey was brought in by his West Point friend Frank Caufield, an investor in the company.〔 In early 1985, von Meister left the company. On May 24, 1985, Quantum Computer Services, an online services company, was founded by Jim Kimsey from the remnants of Control Video, with Kimsey as Chief Executive Officer, and Marc Seriff as Chief Technology Officer. Out of 100 employees from Control Video, only 10 were retained for the new company,〔 one of whom was Steve Case, who was promoted to vice-president of marketing. In 1987, Case was promoted again to executive vice-president. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to take over the role of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.〔 Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985, launched a dedicated online service for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short).〔 The Quantum Link software was based on software licensed from PlayNet, Inc, (founded in 1983 by Howard Goldberg and Dave Panzl). In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation. After the company parted ways with Apple in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online. Case was promoted to and sold AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in contrast to CompuServe, which was well established in the technical community.〔 From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. In the early years of AOL the company introduced many innovative online interactive titles and games, including: * Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986–1988) and Club Caribe (1988) from LucasArts. * The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988). * Quantum Space, the first fully automated Play by email game (1989–1991). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「AOL」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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