Folks,
In the middle of all the hoopla on the T deal, I think this thread needs another dose of reality from long term shareholders of AOL. Does anyone remember the Wall Street Journal article declaring AOL dead when the internet first became popular?? What has happened since then?? Doesn't that tell you anything?? AOL always does what is good for AOL and its shareholders. Don't lose sight of the fact that broadband is still way in the future. I am amazed at some of the posts on this board that completely ignore the fact that AOL has 17 million subscribers Vs. 475000 for AtHome.By the time the use of broadband becomes widespread (at least 10 to 15 years in the future) AOL will have more than ample access to it in a way that makes sense to its shareholders.
What you should look at is what AOL is doing now. To paraphrase Peter Lynch, never invest in a company that you don't know or understand. Look at the people around you,friends, family, co- workers, etc. Do they use AOL?? Are they satisfied with the service of AOL?? Do they use AOL for its content(community, E-mail,ease of use, etc.) or do they use it to download zillion-byte files from the internet??That should give you the answers to whether to buy or sell AOL 's stock.
What AOL is focusing on right now is exactly what they should be focusing on. Increasing the subscriber base at even faster rates, keeping them happy and developing E-commerce relationships. "AOL everywhere" is mch more important right now than their broadband strategy. Not that they should ignore broadband which they are not doing. It would be awfully hard for anyone, T ,MSFT,etc. to wean this huge subscriber base who are used to accessing AOL from everywhere away from AOL. We saw how much success!!! Microsoft Network had in doing that. AtHome will meet the same fate. People simply don't sign up to AOL to download huge files from internet in 10 seconds. They sign up for the content and service.
Meanwhile, on the flunctuations of the stock price , take this from someone who has made a fortune on AOL : Relax, put AOL stock away and don't even worry about it for a couple of years. You will be happy you did so.
Good Luck
Fred |
