AOL was spun off from Time Warner in December 2009 and spent 2010 remaking itself as a content company: it bought TechCrunch in September, ran Engadget, and still collected subscription fees from millions of dial-up customers who had never cancelled.
- Domain in 2010
- aol.com
- Launched
- 1991
- Owner in 2010
- AOL Inc. (public)
- Status today
- Acquired
What people used it for
- AOL Mail and the aol.com portal
- AIM instant messaging
- Dial-up internet access for millions
Interface characteristics
- Aol. wordmark over rotating imagery
- News portal layout with tabs
Notable features
- Bought TechCrunch (September 2010)
- Sold Bebo (June 2010)
- Millions of remaining dial-up subscribers
What happened later
Verizon bought AOL in 2015 and merged it with Yahoo; AOL dial-up finally ended in 2025.
Archived on the Wayback Machine
Archived pages open on web.archive.org (Internet Archive). They are historical captures, not part of this exhibit.
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TechCrunch
Start-up news, bought by AOL
TechCrunch was the loudest voice covering Silicon Valley start-ups in 2010, from Michael Arrington's scoops to the Disrupt conference. AOL announced it was buying the site in September 2010, an early...
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AOL buys TechCrunch
AOL announced the acquisition of the Silicon Valley news site on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, part of its push to become a content company.
