What was AOL before the Internet?

It was the original online portal, with news, chats, file sharing — a first such experience for several generations of users. H&R Block (yep, that tax-prep company) bought CompuServe in 1980 and in 1997 sold it to WorldCom, which in turn passed on the subscriber base to the growing rival AOL.

When did AOL get popular?

1990s America Online grew in popularity throughout the 1990s, becoming the leading Internet service provider in the United States. In 2000 AOL merged with Time Warner Inc., in a deal that subsequently proved disappointing to both parties. America Online officially changed its name to AOL on April 3, 2006.

What did AOL sell for?

Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015 and Yahoo two years later for $4.5 billion. Verizon will get $4.25 billion in cash from the sale along with its 10% stake in the company.

Is AOL email obsolete?

You may be surprised to learn that AOL Mail still exists, though you no longer need a CD-ROM to install the program. Most of the companys products are now web-based, but a quarterly earnings report shockingly revealed that 2.1 million people were still using and paying for AOLs dial-up service as recently as 2015.