The Importance of AOL in American Life

AOL recorded revenues of $1 billion for the first time in 1996, tripling what the business had brought in only a year previously. AOL's stock had risen 30-fold since its IPO, and its market cap eventually reached $5 billion. In addition to Prodigy, CompuServe, and MSN, there were thousands of independent mom and pop ISPs springing up all around the country.