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America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

nytimes.com

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Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#81

Post by nerfhammer »

alaskamiller wrote: post #15
slg wrote: post #7

I assume the motivation for pulling this out of the archive is the WhatsApp purchase. However, I don't think this comparison is truly fair. Not only is WhatsApp monthly adding over twice the userbase ICQ had at the time of purchase, but it is also actually collecting revenue from them. WhatsApp is a real company with real monetization strategies.

To contextualize requires relativity. ICQ in 1999 had about 45 million users. There were only 248 million internet users back in 1999. That's 18% of mostly international users. AOL was optimistic. So much so this is the actual response when they beat the street during their earning reports. "(ICQ is) growing like a weed," said AOL President Bob Pittman. "Monetizing it" will be "relatively easy," he added. WhatsApp ha…

I want to believe. But a smaller amount of people making exponentially greater returns means luck is the new god.

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#82

Post by alatkins »

alaskamiller wrote: post #15
slg wrote: post #7

I assume the motivation for pulling this out of the archive is the WhatsApp purchase. However, I don't think this comparison is truly fair. Not only is WhatsApp monthly adding over twice the userbase ICQ had at the time of purchase, but it is also actually collecting revenue from them. WhatsApp is a real company with real monetization strategies.

To contextualize requires relativity. ICQ in 1999 had about 45 million users. There were only 248 million internet users back in 1999. That's 18% of mostly international users. AOL was optimistic. So much so this is the actual response when they beat the street during their earning reports. "(ICQ is) growing like a weed," said AOL President Bob Pittman. "Monetizing it" will be "relatively easy," he added. WhatsApp ha…

Latecomer!

3743309

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#83

Post by andreyf »

efuquen wrote: post #69

Someone mentioned about trying to find out if their have ever been any other chat services that have really made a lot of money on it's own, and it sparked memory of an acquisition that didn't happen quite that long ago, Microsoft buying Skype in 2011, and here is a good recent article about it: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/30/skype-micr... The bullet point that stands out for me is this: • Problems…

Even if user numbers were comparable, the number of users for WhatsApp is still curving upwards:

http://cdn-static.zdnet.com/i/r/story/70/00/026526/screen-sh...

I would also argue that being installed and used on mobile devices is more valuable than being installed on a desktop is.

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#84

Post by elektronaut »

gcb0 wrote: post #74
JoshGlazebrook wrote: post #14

I still remember back in 2000 when we still had AOL. I was eight or nine and I had my own aol account. You could have a dozen or so sub accounts on the main one. And because it was a "kids account" there were chat rooms for kids. Being the lovely kid that I was, of course I went into one and was like "how the f*ck are you all?" Well the kid chat rooms were moderated and our entire AOL account was disabled. My mom had…

when my folks got me a modem, the only thing my father made me understand was the phone bill values... i was 7 or younger. learned all about initialization strings and the minimal about terminal emulation to get to the message and mud games part of some bbs. after that it was downhill.

I developed a serious internet addiction when I was a teenager. My parents were working class and struggling to make ends meet, and I was always dreading the day the phone bill arrived. After a couple of confiscated modems (I had a secret backup box of old 28.8s), I realized I could just trade my web skills for money and pay the bills myself. I guess that's what I've been doing since.

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#85

Post by shuw »

efuquen wrote: post #69

Someone mentioned about trying to find out if their have ever been any other chat services that have really made a lot of money on it's own, and it sparked memory of an acquisition that didn't happen quite that long ago, Microsoft buying Skype in 2011, and here is a good recent article about it: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/30/skype-micr... The bullet point that stands out for me is this: • Problems…

Skype has 663 million "accounts", very few of these were active.

According to http://www.statisticbrain.com/skype-statistics/, only 31 million Skype users are active as of 2012.

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#86

Post by garfij »

alatkins wrote: post #82
alaskamiller wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To contextualize requires relativity. ICQ in 1999 had about 45 million users. There were only 248 million internet users back in 1999. That's 18% of mostly international users. AOL was optimistic. So much so this is the actual response when they beat the street during their earning reports. "(ICQ is) growing like a weed," said AOL President Bob Pittman. "Monetizing it" will be "relatively easy," he added. WhatsApp ha…

Latecomer! 3743309

noob. 3110674

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#87

Post by yarone »

alaskamiller wrote: post #15
slg wrote: post #7

I assume the motivation for pulling this out of the archive is the WhatsApp purchase. However, I don't think this comparison is truly fair. Not only is WhatsApp monthly adding over twice the userbase ICQ had at the time of purchase, but it is also actually collecting revenue from them. WhatsApp is a real company with real monetization strategies.

To contextualize requires relativity. ICQ in 1999 had about 45 million users. There were only 248 million internet users back in 1999. That's 18% of mostly international users. AOL was optimistic. So much so this is the actual response when they beat the street during their earning reports. "(ICQ is) growing like a weed," said AOL President Bob Pittman. "Monetizing it" will be "relatively easy," he added. WhatsApp ha…

I win with 104006.

Was offered job as employee #1. Didn't take the offer. I was 15 y/o.

Re: America Online to Buy Internet Chat Service for $287 Million (1998)

#90

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

It's funny how these ICQ like messenger applications always end up being bought out with heaps of money. When you see it all over for the nth time than its just funny.

I mean: you are supposed to learn a real profession so that you will be able to create real value, whereas real value is actually assigned to messenger apps.

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