AOL Europe: Well, It's Not America
Stiff competition, pricing difficulties, and strategic miscues have cast doubt on the parent company's overseas strategy
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Six years ago, America Online invaded Europe in hopes that its consumers would embrace its online service as enthusiastically as Americans were. Establishing a beachhead first, the company thought, would give it the edge by the time come-lately competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo! showed up.
Oops. AOL's hopes of prospering as a European Internet service provider cum information portal have run aground thanks to tough competition, expensive Internet access, and the American company's own miscues. That has left AOL to tend to its wounds, buy out a German partner at a steep premium -- and continue to search for a strategy that will succeed.