I am Not sure what Steve Case is sorry for

AOL founder says he is 'sorry' for Time Warner merger

I saw this in the news today and one thing caught my eye.

"The deal, known as one of the worst corporate mergers in history, destroyed some $200 billion in shareholder value."


I am not sure this thinking makes sense. These two companies merged at the hight of the dot.com bubble. Internet companies and media companies had inflated stock prices. I know this merger ended up not improving either company, but how much of that $200 billion would have been lost anyway when the bubble burst.

The resulting company made a lot of mistakes. I am still not sure why the iTunes music store beat AOL/Time Warner to the punch. They have a huge music library they could have started with. I am not sure why they did not make a full court press to provide media on-line. I think that is how the merger failed.

I guess I am still not sure these companies where worth all the money they lost anyway.

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