I cannot believe Google just paid $1,000,000,000 (yes, that is $1 Billion) to purchase a measly 5% of AOL. It makes no sense. Owning 5% of AOL gives Google absolutely no controlling power over AOL. None, nada, zip. If AOL wanted to turn around and sell 51% to Microsoft tomorrow they could, and Google could not do anything about it. Why? Because they only own 5%, which, is almost equivalent to owning 0%. I can understand why Google would want to purchase AOL, but they did not purchase them, they simply invested a ton of money in them. And they did not even get the authority to have a concrete say-so in what AOL does with all that money. It seems like a very bad move (IMHO).
On a side-note, the above brings up something else; how overpriced AOL is. The Google purchase just valued AOL at $20,000,000,000 (yes, $20 Billion). $20Bn? $20Bn? There is absolutely no way AOL can actually be worth $20Bn. The company has been on a slow but steady decline to non-existence for the past umpteen years. So how is it that AOL can still be valued so high? Ridiculous I say, completely ridiculous.
Personally I would have went the way of Yahoo and pulled-out, but oh well, here is wishing Google the best. I hope you get your monies worth (highly unlikely though).
One Comment
Yea I read about that too, and I was thinking the same thing, but, AOL is the largest ISP in the world, so as for me and you and other advanced PC users, we think wtf, but for novice computer users that only know how to cut the power on and off and know the mouse moves something and if they click, something might happen, AOL is the best thing since sliced bread.
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