To: Sonny McWilliams who wrote (27879 ) 8/3/1999 2:59:00 PM From: Tassi Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 41369
DJ AOL Pres -2: Says July Was Rockin' And Rollin' AOL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dow Jones News Service via DowVision 3 Aug 13:16 By Mark Boslet SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Business during the traditionally, seasonally slow summer has "never been stronger" and the first fiscal quarter "looks very, very strong for us," America Online Inc. (AOL) President Ted Leonsis said. "July was rocking and rolling" in every one of AOL's online brands, Leonsis said at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens Technology Conference here. The company's first quarter ends in September. Monday night, the AOL network supported 1.1 million to 1.2 million simultaneous users of its flagship AOL service and another 1.1 million simultaneous users of ICQ, its chat service, he said. Moreover, the company has a $1.2 million backlog of advertising, he said. Leonsis said AOL views the growing consumer interest in broadband, or high-speed Internet access, as a trend that will help and not hurt it. Every year pundits predict another AOL killer will emerge like Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) MSN Network several years ago or the advent of the World Wide Web. "Every year there is some kind of boogie man," he said. "This year it is broadband." But when a company has a leading brand, the promotion of a new technology helps it bring in new customers, he said. In addition, the next version of AOL's software will have a "broadband sniffer" that will determine whether a user's connection has the capability of handling more video and audio content, he said. Mark Boslet; 654-496-1366 (END) DOW JONES NEWS 08-03-99 01:16 PM