There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future

by Kara Swisher, Lisa Dickey

In her acclaimed AOL.COM, Kara Swisher chronicled the unlikely ascent of a group of underdog entrepreneurs and their influence on American net culture. This book picks up where the previous one left off, investigating AOL's merger with Time Warner and its aftermath. Journalists Swisher and Dickey have an ear for the comic and an appreciation for the larger-than-life personalities that propel the drama. After the merger, a troubled journey lies ahead both for AOL Time Warner and for its competitors. Microsoft, Yahoo, Disney, and AT&T all circle for position, hoping for the worst. But like the little boy who searches through a pile of horse manure looking for the pony, the companies are vigorously scooping their way forward - often without a clue.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Cultural, Technology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Anthony Eales · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Kara Swisher's accessible but also in the weeds for media and tech junkie's book on the AOL-Time Warner merger. There is echoes in this book of what's happening in the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Obviously not as bad. But mega mergers like these aren't always the smoothest.

Kara puts the spin I've come to know from her with her work at All Things D, Recode, her conferences for The Wall Street Journal & Code as well as recently in The New York Times. Kara is a treasure to the tech industry and I also really enjoyed her appearances in Mike Judge's Silicon Valley on HBO (funnily enough features in this book as the doyen of Time Warner back then as much as now).

Well sourced with often quotations of news articles from the time this book really gives you a sense of what was happening at the time. And makes you ponder for lost opportunities on the stock market as well as the possibility of life ruining losses.

AOL-Time Warner was the most disastrous and biggest merger in history and it really is a fascinating tale with many lessons.

I hope Kara writes another book as it would be getting my money hands down.

[Leew49 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Around the turn of the century, AOL was viewed as a glamorous, forward-looking tech company and one of the real powers of the Internet. Under the leadership of Steve Case it enjoyed ever-growing membership, copious advertising contracts and a high stock value. Its merger with Time-Warner, a mega-corporation of publishing, entertainment, and news, was seen as the wave of the future.

Because of the high value of AOL stock, the younger, non-traditional company became the senior partner in AOL Time-Warner, a fact that was reflected in the makeup of the new managerial staff. But resentment arose almost immediately, driven in part by the different cultures and outlooks of the two companies. AOL and its leaders had an aggressive, confrontational style, exemplified by one of their favorite expressions, "You just don't get it." And Time-Warner, that huge conglomerate, was in fact made up of many separate fiefdoms with their own loyalties and goals. As time passed the much anticipated synergy from the merger never materialized. AOL, a tech company still dependent on dialup technology, never transitioned to broadband, thus losing ground in the competition with other companies like Microsoft. Resentment continued to simmer.

Then the Internet bubble burst, and the stock value--such a big part of the AOL image as an up and comer--dropped. Shareholders and employees--who had sometimes been paid with stock options rather than cash--lost big-time. The stock plunged even further with gradual revelations of unconventional accounting practices by AOL emerged. The new merged company began to get the attention of an increasingly skeptical press, as well as the SEC and the DOJ. After several years Steve Case was booted out of Time-Warner, and the AOL name dropped from the company logo. Now only a subsidiary of Time-Warner, AOL never was able to live up to its original promise.

Kara Swisher has an insider's knowledge, an outsider's skepticism, an acerbic wit and a unique gift for finding exactly the right phrase. Her look back at one of the major corporate missteps of our time manages to be both informative and entertaining.

[Anthony Moreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look back at a time that feels like a lifetime ago... and showcases the early, even quaint days, of the burgeoning internet, when we could hardly imagine how it would come to dominate the world.

The events it describes are long forgotten, and that's what really sticks out: there was a future when these hapless executives could have dominated the world wide web. This never came to pass, and it's strange to look at the final chapter, where Swisher talks about how AOL can get back on top.

It was not to be.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as great for a broad audience, but good for those into tech and media.

[J. Fakename · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonder if Kara Swisher goes “swish!” when she files a piece. The amount of hope she gives AOL at the end of this 2003 book is heartbreaking.

[Thaths · Rating 1 out of 5]

This books appears to be ghost written (one presumes based on interviews with Ms Swisher) by someone else. I could not stand how repetitive it was, and couldn't finish it.

[Michael Picot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book even though it was about events that occurred over a decade ago. It was very interesting to read about this well-known debacle in American business history. There is a lot to learn from the AOL Time Warner merger. One thing I noted was that just because this merger did not work out doesn't mean some of the main players weren't visionary in many regards. I think people like Jerry Levin and Steve Case were ahead of their time with some of their ideas. The main failure is just that they weren't able to execute on those ideas effectively. It was intriguing how some of the ideas they had and weren't able to execute are things that others have been able to create and capitalize on since then. It was also interesting to read how some technologies, services and applications that even the author thought would always have a place in online society have since disappeared almost completely, such as dial-up.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

There Must Be a Pony uses a great approach with the author's personal observations combined with other coverage from the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and other publications. The book has much verve that arises from the author's somewhat snarky narrative describing the people and events surrounding the merger of AOL and Time Warner.

The book doesn't seem as well-researched or as exhaustive in terms of interviews and subjects as other books on the time period or subject matter. Instead, the book depends more on opinion and attitude which, in turn, makes the book more entertaining than informative.

The epilogue is a dissection of AOL Time Warner's business. This is curious as up until that point, the book read more as a tell-all than a business case study.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Kara swisher's book AOL.com prior to me going to work for AOL, and then I read this immediately after I got laid off! It's a good book and it talks about all the different reasons why the merger wasn't what it should have been - to Time Warner, to the share holders, and most importantly, to the customers. At the end of the day, AOL lied about how much it was making, and they made off like bandits. And now TWC is stuck holding the red-headed bastard step child that defeats them no matter what they try to do with it.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Kara Swisher writing with Lisa Dickey has produced a very thorough tome about the background and results of the AOL/Time Warner merger. It's a dreary tale though because there is no good news to be had. Apparently, the merger was an unmitigated disaster.

338.7 - Recorded version - subtitled: the AOL Time Warner Debacle and the quest for the digital future. A look at the personages involved in the build-up of AOL and the merger of AOL with Time-Warner, the biggest merger in history at the time, and the results of the culture clash that ensued during the dot-com bursting bubble.