America Online, Inc

AOL Inc.

Formerly called	Control Video Corporation (1983–85) Quantum Computer Services (1985–91) America Online (1991–2009)
Type	Subsidiary
Founded	1983; 34 years ago (1983) (as Control Video Corporation) 2009 (as AOL Inc.)
Founders	Marc Seriff Steve Case Jim Kimsey
Headquarters	770 Broadway New York, NY 10003
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Tim Armstrong (CEO)
Services	Web portal and online services
Owner	Verizon
Number of employees	5,600
Parent	Independent (1983-2000, 2006-2015) (AOL) Time Warner (2000–2006) Verizon Communications (2015–2017) Oath Inc. (2017–present)
Website	aol.com

AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc., originally known as America Online, and stylized as Aol) is a web portal and online service provider based in New York. It is a brand marketed by Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications. AOL was one of the early pioneers of the Internet in the mid-1990s, and the most recognized brand on the web in the U.S. It originally provided a dial-up service to millions of Americans, as well as providing a web portal, e-mail, instant messaging and later a web browser following its purchase of Netscape. At the height of its popularity, it purchased the media conglomerate Time Warner in the largest merger in U.S. history. AOL rapidly declined thereafter, partly due to the decline of dial-up to broadband. AOL was eventually spun off from Time Warner in 2009, with Tim Armstrong appointed the new CEO. Under his leadership, the company invested in media brands and advertising technologies.

On June 23, 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion. In the following months, AOL also made a deal with Microsoft and acquired several tech properties, including Millennial Media and Kanvas to bolster their mobile ad-tech capabilities.

AOL began in 1983, as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (or CVC), founded by Bill von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console, after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Bros. Subscribers bought a modem from the company for US$49.95 and paid a one-time US$15 setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of US$1 per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module and playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game.