aol (america online) is an online service provider we all remember from the last century, and it remains one of the largest internet companies in the united states today. However, despite its success, AOL began to shrink as broadband slowly took over dial-up, introducing new technology to consumers. so will aol email be shut down in the face of strong competition?
despite rumors that aol email is shutting down, there is nothing to suggest that email services will be discontinued. Equity firm Apollo Global Management bought AOL in 2021, and they will most likely continue to support the email service, allowing AOL mail users to access their inbox.
Let’s take a closer look at aol mail, from the service’s history to who owns it now and what to expect in the future.
is aol email service shutting down?
Due to the sale of the company and the steady decline in relevance (thanks to the rise of broadband and AOL’s history as a dial-up service), there are many rumors circulating that the AOL email service will shut down.
Aol hasn’t confirmed anything, and neither has Apollo, that it bought the service from Verizon in 2021. However, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem for Apollo to keep the email service running. it is very likely that the servers will simply be transferred to the new company.
Because nothing is guaranteed, it’s still a good idea to save any important information you may have in that email account and transfer it elsewhere.
how long has aol been around?
aol was established in May 1985, which means it has been around for over three decades and is one of the oldest internet providers. Initially, it had an hourly pay system where users could pay for internet access based on time, but it quickly switched to a dial-up subscription system.
although everyone has always called it aol, it only changed to this name officially in 2006. previously, it kept its full name of america online.
In addition to email and the internet, it was famous for aim: aol instant messenger. this service ran from 1995 to 2017, when it was officially discontinued. this, like their other services, was due to declining popularity as most people had much better options and aim’s functions were rudimentary in comparison.
aol desktop was what most aol users would know: an internet browser, media client, and messenger all combined in one window. older users will remember the dial-up noise when they connect!
The company took a downward turn as Internet consumers found better and faster options. saw a brief surge in profits as its advertising overcame a lack of subscribers, but it’s still been a rocky road for the company.
who is going to end up owning aol?
Verizon initially bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015. However, last year they announced they would sell their entire media group (including AOL) to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.
verizon says it wants to focus more on technology than media, which means yahoo is also selling to apollo global management (another service that seems to have been much more popular than it is now).
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what will aol look like in the future?
apollo global management has not made any announcement about what it intends to do with aol, so we can only speculate on what it will look like in the future.
however, aol claims that it still has many users using its dial-up services. it no longer charges for email, but clearly there is still some revenue coming from dial-up subscriptions.
While the global apollo administration would be within their rights to shut down the service, it may cause such a ruckus that they will choose not to. it’s fair to be cautiously optimistic that aol users will be able to keep their services.
this of course also depends on how much research apollo does and what he finds. While there are plenty of AOL subscriptions still active, there’s no current way of knowing how many of them are being used and how many people just haven’t bothered to cancel their stalled service.
aol no longer charges for email, so those with aol.com email addresses can continue to use them right now. again, apollo may decide to shut them down, but they are more likely to keep the servers running so people can still access these addresses.
All we can say for sure is that aol probably won’t return to its former glory. Although its internet package, including media player and instant messaging, was impressive for its time, it is now seriously outdated.
aol will most likely have to focus on advertising to continue generating revenue rather than subscription services, unless they seriously oversell what those services entail.