AfterDawn: News

AOL patents not worth too much, says firm

Last week, AOL hired Evercore Partners to help it sell its 800-strong patent portfolio.

The company confirmed it has received numerous buyout offers from private equity firms, with the firms wanting to take AOL private. Such firms include Providence Equity Partners Inc, TPG Capital and Silver Lake. At the time, Starboard Value, a hedge fund that owns 5 percent of AOL, said the firms believe AOL's patent portfolio could bring in over $1 billion in licensing income if used correctly.



Today, the patent advisory firm M-Cam has said the patents are worth about $290 million, a significantly smaller figure than the hedge fund hoped for.

AOL was once valued at over $100 billion but now has a market cap of just $1.75 billion thanks to slowing advertising growth and the decade-long decline of dial-up revenue.

Stupid purchases, like $800 million for Bebo, certainly has not helped the company's fortunes either.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 1 Apr 2012 0:19

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• 5 comments

• xaznboitx

  people still use AOL?
  

  1.4.2012 00:59 #1

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by xaznboitx: people still use AOL? No, but they still charge for service after an account is closed, then refuse to provide the "service" of stopping charges because you are no longer a customer. You have to close the bank account to stop them, assuming you notice it.

  1.4.2012 01:51 #2

• LordRuss

  People don't want to pay idiotic prices for a company that places idiotic value on itself. They pulled stupid maneuvers when it came to business & now it's come back to bite them in the ass. I'm glad to be here to see it happen.
  
  It'll only be a matter of time before it happens to Apple as they keep playing their BS feigned enrichment game?
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  1.4.2012 11:00 #3

• Mysttic

  AOL (All Out Laughter) enough said.

  1.4.2012 17:10 #4

• xaznboitx

  no way of people to recover deleted account since i paid for it in 2005 and then canceled it in 2006 and now it shows my account is deleted... other account is aim which made in 2007 and last time I use it was 2010 so they deleted the account as well... so dumb... same with yahoo, didn't active email or messenger for 6 months they delete the email so others can use it.... what if i forgot my email to a site then i did the forgot password and it sent to the old email but someone else used my old email and got the info about it? it should be like gmail and hotmail where you don't have to be active to keep the email forever.
  

  1.4.2012 18:12 #5