America Online
Headquarters:
22000 AOL Way
Dulles, VA 20166
Employees: 4,000
CEO: Randy Falco
Division of Time Warner
Website:
http://www.aol.com
Time Warner Career Site
America Online is a subsidiary of Time
Warner. It offers an easy-to-use interface to get online and
its own content along with material from its corporate parent
Time Warner. AOL also developed Instant Messenger technology.
AOL announced a dramatic change in its
business strategy in 2006 by offering free access to its content
and e-mail to broadband users. The company no longer markets
its discs on a mass basis but will still charge $25.90 per month
for dial-up access.
AOL said it would layoff an additional
2,000 workers in addition to 5,000 jobs that have been cut over
the past two years.
AOL announced in September it will move
tis headquarters to New York City by next spring to be closer
to the advertsing community and agencies. The move is important
since AOL has changed from a subscription-based service to one
backed almost entirely by advertising.
AOL's network of Web properties attracts
111 million unique visitors a month to some of the best known
brands on the Internet, including AOL.com, MapQuest, AIM, Moviefone,
ICQ and Netscape. It also includes newer brands that are taking
the net by storm including TMZ.com and In2TV. AOL's online
advertising network is growing fast with advertising revenues
up 49% in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared to the fourth
quarter of 2005, and 41% in 2006, compared with 2005.
AOL makes the AOL software, including the
recently unveiled OpenRide client, and AOL Mail available for
free to broadband users.
AOL provides users with other services,
including personalized domain names, as well as 5 gigabytes of
free storage through Xdrive, a company AOL acquired in 2005.
AOL has a new AOL Search product, which provides multimedia results
in addition to text results.
Randy Falco was named the new CEO of AOL
in 2006, replacing Jonathan Miller. Falco is a former President
and Chief Operating Officer of NBC Universal.
History
AOL first began in 1985 as Quantum Computer
Services and launched the first AOL service in 1989 for Apple
computers. It launched service for Windows in 1993 and reached
1 million subscribers in 1994. AOL quickly grew in the late 90s
by offering an easy way to get online. It also embarked on a
massive marketing campaign by mailing out tens of millions of
CDs with its software to almost every U.S. household.
AOL's crowning moment was its merger in
2000 with Time Warner. However, since then AOL has seen its subscriber
base drop from a peak of 35 million in 2002 to 17 million today
as more users have discovered they don't need AOL to get on the
Internet.
Google extended a partnership with AOL
last year and agreed to invest $1 billion in AOL in exchange
for a 5% stake.
Benefits
Employees receive health, dental, vision
and prescription drug coverage. A 24-hour nurse's advice line
helps with minor health problems and whether a trip to the doctor
is needed.
Time Warner Savings Plan - After three months of service, you can contribute
between 2% and 20% of your salary and defer taxes on your contributions.
After six months of service, AOL matches 50¢ for every $1
you contribute, up to the first 6% of pay you contribute. You
are 100% vested in the match after five years.
AOL observes 9 holidays in 2005, plus two
employee-designated personal holidays. Sick leave up to 10 days
per year is allowed.
Fitness centers available at most locations
and concierge service to help employees with errands.
Updated October 22, 2007
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