Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B • Hacker News Board

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#71

Post by 67726e » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:23 PM UTC

AwesomeGriffin wrote: post #55

67726e wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No the commenter you're asking, but I've never had a constructive conversation with "those types" - the kind who go out of their way to talk about getting laid off from a tech company. Of all the ones I've spoken with, it followed the pattern of "BigCo outsourced jobs to those darn Foreigners, and I got laid off, and it will happen to you too!". In particular I worked with a former DBA for IBM at a grocery store in h…

> probably lower skilled workers can take your job, you probably suck More probably these decisions are made at a very high level and the individual abilities of these workers aren't even taken into consideration. The real lessons here are never trust your employer, loyalty is a two-way street and always have an exit plan.

I suppose, but to turn around and complain about how you haven't been able to find work for the past 5-10 years seems to indicate there might be something beyond "I got laid off because of outsourcing."

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#72

Post by tw04 » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

lxchase wrote: post #63

While many are seeing this as bizarre, it is not. This is a programmatic and verticalization play. Verizon has been investing in adtech companies and provides the means of distribution. The deal allows them to now own the content as well. As someone in the advertising agency, Verizon has been one of the few telecoms that have enabled advertisers to utilize their data. This deal furthers their ability to tie mobile da…

It's not the least bit bizarre, but it is EXACTLY what people are (or should be) afraid of. The people who own the pipes should NOT own the content, or they will be incentivized to leverage their monopoly on our computer screens to provide unfair advantages to their content.

The FCC should have drawn a line in the sand and been done with it before the Comcast deal was allowed to go through (but of course the head of the FCC at that time mysteriously took a cushy job at Comcast after completing her tenure). You want to own the pipes, that's all you own.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#73

Post by dangrossman » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #66

raverbashing wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gotta love old people adverse to change, or thinking they still need to pay for email.

What does dialup have to do with email? You still need connectivity to access free email providers. And for older folk who do nothing other than email, do not have smartphones, but do have a landline... 20 a month on dialup makes more sense than 50 a month for Comcast. Sure, it sounds ridiculous to us who are permanently connected and do not even have landlines... but to the 65+ community, there really still is a sma…

He may have been being more literal than you think. I can name 3 people that were paying for an AOL subscription because they thought they needed to keep it to keep using their AOL e-mail addresses. They all had broadband from their cable companies, they weren't dialing up.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#74

Post by tootie » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:25 PM UTC

WDCDev wrote: post #7

To give you some perspective. When Time Warner and AOL merged back in 1999, AOL was valued at $166 Billion.

AOL might be the ultimate company that missed the boat. They practically owned the internet in America in the 90s and just let the whole thing get away. They had pole position to be Google+Facebook at once.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#75

Post by gcb0 » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:31 PM UTC

here's the armchair analysis:

AOL was valued at 160+b at it's peak. and it was making lots of money as a "media" company to the point they thought the right thing was to buy Warner.

then they lost the captivity of their dial up clients, and their media business vanished overnight.

Verizon realized they own the pipes and they want aol know how on how to capitalize it to profit from media while it has the audience captivated.

people are finally realizing that having control over the pipes give you control over the content. AOL realized that too late. expect Verizon to fight very hard on net neutrality to be able to monetize their hard earned eye balls. and welcome a new era of mobile bloatware and deals like you already see in south america, where you can get a 100mb data plan only, but traffic to face book and whatsup is free.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#76

Post by janesvilleseo » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:32 PM UTC

AwesomeGriffin wrote: post #55

67726e wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No the commenter you're asking, but I've never had a constructive conversation with "those types" - the kind who go out of their way to talk about getting laid off from a tech company. Of all the ones I've spoken with, it followed the pattern of "BigCo outsourced jobs to those darn Foreigners, and I got laid off, and it will happen to you too!". In particular I worked with a former DBA for IBM at a grocery store in h…

> probably lower skilled workers can take your job, you probably suck More probably these decisions are made at a very high level and the individual abilities of these workers aren't even taken into consideration. The real lessons here are never trust your employer, loyalty is a two-way street and always have an exit plan.

Exactly. I was having this conversation with fellow employees. He brought up that they have a 1.5 - 2 year plan to phase out his entire department and moving everything overseas. I was just shocked that he was literally watching time tick by until his job was over. He was been with the company for 8 years. I asked why he stayed and it came down to security. He has kids and needs the insurance.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#77

Post by georgeott » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:34 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #74

WDCDev wrote: post #7

To give you some perspective. When Time Warner and AOL merged back in 1999, AOL was valued at $166 Billion.

AOL might be the ultimate company that missed the boat. They practically owned the internet in America in the 90s and just let the whole thing get away. They had pole position to be Google+Facebook at once.

They owned a closed "Walled Garden" version of the internet. Once the open internet took off, AOL was doomed.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#78

Post by aylons » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:34 PM UTC

WDCDev wrote: post #7

To give you some perspective. When Time Warner and AOL merged back in 1999, AOL was valued at $166 Billion.

At first, I read the deadline as $4,48, mistaking the B for an 8. That I didn't got think twice to interpret this way reveals how far down AOL went, at least in my opinion of it.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#79

Post by HarryHirsch » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:36 PM UTC

67726e wrote: post #50

earlyriser wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: why do you say luckily?

No the commenter you're asking, but I've never had a constructive conversation with "those types" - the kind who go out of their way to talk about getting laid off from a tech company. Of all the ones I've spoken with, it followed the pattern of "BigCo outsourced jobs to those darn Foreigners, and I got laid off, and it will happen to you too!". In particular I worked with a former DBA for IBM at a grocery store in h…

if low wage, and probably lower skilled workers can take your job, you probably suck

The alternative hypothesis is that you are overqualified. You may not have been overqualified when you took the position but now you are. De-skilling is a very real phenomenon in the workplace.

The xenophobic uncle has seen more than you and may well be the wiser man. Sometimes the country on the other side of the border is the enemy.

Re: Verizon to Buy AOL for $4.4B

#80

Post by aylons » Tue, May 12, 2015, 1:37 PM UTC

darklajid wrote: post #58

Today I learned that WhatsApp is 5 times more valuable than AOL - and I never understood either of these companies' market.. Interesting though - that company 'felt' like a giant when I seriously got into using the web and although the article seems to imply that the operations of AOL continue (using the AOL brand?) it's fascinating to see such a company being swallowed.

Sorry, but why do you believe WhatsApp is overvalued? They have an incredible mindshare, it is the only app (besides Facebook), that I see moms and grandmas using on a daily basis.

Heck, my mom talk to me mostly through it. She evens send me emoticons, pictures and voice notes!