Steve Case, who owns more than 250 million in company stock, writes that he thinks AOL should be split from Time Warner, able to be on its own and nimble with its own stock and own board so it can more easily buy up younger companies like Yahoo has been doing. He doesn’t think a merger with Microsoft to combine forces to compete against Google would be the right move. Most interesting about his Washington Post article I found was his take that AOL and Apple shared some similarities:

Could a stand-alone AOL stage a comeback? Five years ago, most people thought Apple was a tarnished brand destined for declining market share and irrelevance. But some (including its co-founder Steve Jobs) saw the potential there, and a spirit of innovation has returned to the company to produce breakthrough products. Apple is now more valuable — and more relevant — than ever. Liberated to pursue its own future, AOL could have an Apple-like renaissance.

I wouldn’t compare AOL to Apple. AOL doesn’t make cool hardware, they are responsible with littering the earth with their gadzillions of CDs and creating a subscription process that Houdini might have had trouble escaping. They have bought promising companies like Winamp and done what with them? I don’t see any similarities between the two companies except that AOL would like to be like Apple whose stock has enjoyed a nice 2006 (disclaimer: I own AAPL stock as of this writing).

As for a renaissance for AOL? Extremely doubtful from my perspective. The purchase of WeblogsInc isn’t their savior. AOLJournals? Forget about it. The dial-up business continues to deteriorate and while they are doing some impressive hardware packaging deals (EXAMLE. buy this LCD monitor for a cheap price as long as you commit to a year long subscription to AOL), they’ve also already played out their most valuable trump card: opening up their members area content. For years that remained the reason to subscribe to AOL, but they are tearing down that wall. Great for the rest of us who liked some of that content but didn’t like being an AOL subscriber. Not so great for AOL that has to try and monetize that with advertising vs. subscription income.

What others are saying
Mark Evans thinks Case is trying to rehab his “tattered reputation.”
Susan Mernit says it’s too late for AOL to be more nimble as a standalone entity.
“I found the piece had much merit,” writes Michael Parekh, who like Case is a current shareholder.
Mathew Wingram wonders if Steve Case wants AOL back?
Om Malik thinks this shows “… man has chutzpah. Hey anything to boost the short term value of those $250 million in stock!”

Closing thoughts
Whatever actually happens, there is one guaranteed bet: expect a new version of AOL soon. My first AOL-centric entry at this blog was on July 5, 2003 was about their infamous versioning marketing.

Update 12/12/05 4:20pm PST: Steve Case online Washington Post interview transcript. Some more info on why he wrote the article saying he thinks the company should be divided. Good reading.

Did this post make you go hmm?

 Loading ...

• Steve Jobs bets on Y! Music raising prices in five months
• Laporte and Dvorak discuss dual boot Apple / Windows future
• Apple needs Nintendo to counter Microsoft
• Comparing Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google stock over time
• Admitting bad results more favorable to investors than deceit
• Sony wins appeal overturning mod chip case