Pursuits
AOL Valued at a Fraction of WhatsApp Tells 15 Years of Messaging
CEO Armstrong on Verizon Agreement to Buy AOL
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AOL, the Internet pioneer that once flooded American homes with disks offering free dial-up, is now worth less than a quarter of WhatsApp, a six-year-old mobile messaging service that gained worldwide popularity through word-of-mouth.
In essence, the valuations reflect 15 years of the evolving messaging technology that saw AOL, one of the most recognizable consumer-technology brands of the 1990s, become a name that many Americans under 30 know only from that old “You’ve Got Mail” movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.