The Spy Who Business Wars Presents: The AOL-Time Warner Disaster
Aug 11, 2025
Dive into the whirlwind of the AOL-Time Warner merger, once hailed as a dream collaboration. Discover the ambitious hopes that quickly spiraled into chaos as leadership faced declining stock prices and growing investor fears. The podcast reveals the high-stakes creativity and desperate measures taken to push the merger through, raising eyebrows with manipulative tactics that foreshadowed long-term repercussions. This tale is a riveting look at corporate ambition, failure, and the messy reality behind mergers.
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Stock Price Is Negotiating Currency
- When your stock is your currency, perception becomes reality in real time.
- Steve Case pushed ad teams to prop the price to protect AOL's negotiating hand.
Wembley Greyhound Ad Swap
- AOL cut Wembley's settlement and booked it as ad revenue to hit quarterly targets.
- They copied Wembley's artwork and ran millions in greyhound ads before the site launched.
Ad Team Celebrates With 'Who Let The Dogs Out'
- AOL's business affairs team celebrated their quarter by blasting "Who Let the Dogs Out."
- They high-fived after jamming invoices and flooding AOL with greyhound ads.