Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
January 11, 2000, Tuesday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. D9
LENGTH: 235 words
HEADLINE:
BLOCKBUSTER DEAL: AOL AND TIME WARNER MERGE<;
HISTORY OF AMERICA ONLINE
BYLINE: Associated Press
BODY:
May 1985 - Founded under original name, Quantum Computer Services. Offers an
on-line service, Q-Link, for owners of Commodore computers.
Oct. 1989 -
Introduces America Online service for Macintosh & Apple II computers.
Feb. 1991 - Introduces version of America Online for
IBM-compatible computers using Microsoft's DOS operating system.
Oct.
1991 - Quantum Computer Services changes name to America Online Inc.
March 1992 - AOL sells stock to the public on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Jan. 1993 - Launches version of AOL for Microsoft's Windows operating
system.
Aug. 1994 - Reaches 1 million subscribers.
Feb. 1995 -
Teams with German media firm Bertelsmann to offer on-line services in Europe.
Feb. 1996 - Reaches 5 million subscribers.
Sept. 1996 - Moves
trading to New York Stock Exchange.
Nov. 1997 - Reaches 10 million
members
Feb. 1998 - Buys CompuServe, a competing on-line service.
March 1999 - Buys Netscape Communications, whose Navigator browser first
popularized the World Wide Web.
May 1999 - Buys MovieFone, the nation's
largest movie listing guide and ticketing service.
June 1999 - Invests
$1.5 billion in DirecTV creator Hughes Electronics to develop,
market high-speed services via satellite.
Dec. 1999 - Surpasses 20
million members; AOL's Instant Messenger ICQ surpasses 50 million registered
users.
Jan. 2000 - Announces proposed acquisition of Time Warner.
GRAPHIC: CHART, Globe staff chart
LOAD-DATE: January 11, 2000 
