[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He wanted to send movies and music to people over two-way connections that let people from all over interact with each other and with the things they received over the service.The wired world was also very open; it wasn’t a“walled garden” at all.That perception would prove troublesome when it came time for Case and Allen to tango.One thing Allen did like about the online services of the day was the fact that people were congregating there.Subscribers were creating communities on the online services.AOL’s chat rooms were among the most popular and they ultimately drove the company to success, as subscribers told their friends about the service and wanted on, too.But that wasn’t the only reason AOL was appealing.Allen liked AOL also because it was fairly small, and it was independent.The company had shareholders to serve, but it wasn’t at the mercy of a huge bureaucratic structure, the way Prodigy and CompuServe were.AOL was a company he could influence and126THE ACCIDENTAL ZILLIONAIREpossibly control fully.Allen doesn’t get involved half way with companies he finds interesting.If he’s turned his attention on a company, it’s because he sees a grand plan for the company and wants it implemented.AOL was a perfect component of his own vision.AOL was developing strong relationships with its customers; Allen had ideas about how to expand those simple communications into bigger, more interactive relationships over open, broadband connections.A major thing he objected to with AOL was its proprietary technology.He had always focused on making technologies available to the widest group of people possible.That’s what BASIC had been about: an easy-to-use language that could become a standard.Asymetrix’s ToolBook was also meant to be available to anyone.AOL’s closed environment bugged Allen.It was the one big thing he would change if he were in charge.He would push AOLto get out onto the Internet and move into broadband as quickly as possible, before anyone else got there.Cable and satellite companies were hungrily eyeing high-speed connections and Allen thought they might be the first to deliver the much-hyped 500-channel universe if he didn’t act fast.He told Savoy to buy more shares in AOL.At first, it looked to the passing observer like Allen was just being a rich-guy investor who had a knack for technology and had picked AOL as a company with a bright future.But less than a month after AOL’s IPO debut, Allen bought an additional 248,000 shares for between $11 and $14 each.With some other shares picked up along the way, Allen now had around 365,000shares out of the company’s 5 million or so outstanding shares; it gave him about a 7.3 percent stake in the company.In the fall, he went back for more.Between October 1 and October 5, 1992,THE AOL EXPER IENCE127Allen spent $1.9 million for 150,000 shares.Prodigy and CompuServe were considered the stars of the online services sector, but Allen had chosen to back tiny little AOL.Allen’s investment activity was very exciting for AOL.Investors on Wall Street sat up and took notice of Allen’s interest.He was the cofounder of the hugely successful Microsoft and the country’s tenth richest person worth $2.4 billion.As an investor in tech firms, he had begun throwing very large sums of cash around—or at least threatening to, in the case of SkyPix—and was considered a visionary in technology.When it came to AOL, Allen said it looked like a good investment to him.With a stake greater than 5 percent, he was required to report his intention to the Securities & Exchange Commission.In a filing, he said he held the shares as an investment only.Investors started lining up.“Paul validated the company,” says a former financial analyst.“He took it from a $20 stock to a $60 stock.”As AOL’s share price went up, people started believing in the scrappy online service, which had just 5 percent of the online services market, compared to the 30 percent that Prodigy and CompuServe each boasted.AOL still needed the help.Besides their two existing competitors, AOL executives were growing anxious over news from Redmond, Washington, where Microsoft was getting serious about its own online service, for now called Marvel.By this point in the game, Microsoft had earned a reputation for overcoming the competition in markets it entered.Allen himself had experienced that firsthand with two of Asymetrix’s products, first ToolBook and then the slide-show presentation software Compel, which were each handily beat by Microsoft’s Visual Basic and PowerPoint.At AOL, the executives’ main strategy was focused on keeping Microsoft at bay.Becoming a higher profile company would help.They looked on eagerly as Allen continued to buy in and lend further credibility to their company.128THE ACCIDENTAL ZILLIONAIREBy fall, Allen held 746,000 shares in the company (he’d made other, smaller transactions along the way, via Savoy).It gave him a 13.5 percent stake.As the months wore on, he picked up more shares.All of a sudden, AOL’s board was a little nervous: Was Allen really just in it for an investment? He’d become very aggressive, buying up many shares in just a matter of months [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.He wanted to send movies and music to people over two-way connections that let people from all over interact with each other and with the things they received over the service.The wired world was also very open; it wasn’t a“walled garden” at all.That perception would prove troublesome when it came time for Case and Allen to tango.One thing Allen did like about the online services of the day was the fact that people were congregating there.Subscribers were creating communities on the online services.AOL’s chat rooms were among the most popular and they ultimately drove the company to success, as subscribers told their friends about the service and wanted on, too.But that wasn’t the only reason AOL was appealing.Allen liked AOL also because it was fairly small, and it was independent.The company had shareholders to serve, but it wasn’t at the mercy of a huge bureaucratic structure, the way Prodigy and CompuServe were.AOL was a company he could influence and126THE ACCIDENTAL ZILLIONAIREpossibly control fully.Allen doesn’t get involved half way with companies he finds interesting.If he’s turned his attention on a company, it’s because he sees a grand plan for the company and wants it implemented.AOL was a perfect component of his own vision.AOL was developing strong relationships with its customers; Allen had ideas about how to expand those simple communications into bigger, more interactive relationships over open, broadband connections.A major thing he objected to with AOL was its proprietary technology.He had always focused on making technologies available to the widest group of people possible.That’s what BASIC had been about: an easy-to-use language that could become a standard.Asymetrix’s ToolBook was also meant to be available to anyone.AOL’s closed environment bugged Allen.It was the one big thing he would change if he were in charge.He would push AOLto get out onto the Internet and move into broadband as quickly as possible, before anyone else got there.Cable and satellite companies were hungrily eyeing high-speed connections and Allen thought they might be the first to deliver the much-hyped 500-channel universe if he didn’t act fast.He told Savoy to buy more shares in AOL.At first, it looked to the passing observer like Allen was just being a rich-guy investor who had a knack for technology and had picked AOL as a company with a bright future.But less than a month after AOL’s IPO debut, Allen bought an additional 248,000 shares for between $11 and $14 each.With some other shares picked up along the way, Allen now had around 365,000shares out of the company’s 5 million or so outstanding shares; it gave him about a 7.3 percent stake in the company.In the fall, he went back for more.Between October 1 and October 5, 1992,THE AOL EXPER IENCE127Allen spent $1.9 million for 150,000 shares.Prodigy and CompuServe were considered the stars of the online services sector, but Allen had chosen to back tiny little AOL.Allen’s investment activity was very exciting for AOL.Investors on Wall Street sat up and took notice of Allen’s interest.He was the cofounder of the hugely successful Microsoft and the country’s tenth richest person worth $2.4 billion.As an investor in tech firms, he had begun throwing very large sums of cash around—or at least threatening to, in the case of SkyPix—and was considered a visionary in technology.When it came to AOL, Allen said it looked like a good investment to him.With a stake greater than 5 percent, he was required to report his intention to the Securities & Exchange Commission.In a filing, he said he held the shares as an investment only.Investors started lining up.“Paul validated the company,” says a former financial analyst.“He took it from a $20 stock to a $60 stock.”As AOL’s share price went up, people started believing in the scrappy online service, which had just 5 percent of the online services market, compared to the 30 percent that Prodigy and CompuServe each boasted.AOL still needed the help.Besides their two existing competitors, AOL executives were growing anxious over news from Redmond, Washington, where Microsoft was getting serious about its own online service, for now called Marvel.By this point in the game, Microsoft had earned a reputation for overcoming the competition in markets it entered.Allen himself had experienced that firsthand with two of Asymetrix’s products, first ToolBook and then the slide-show presentation software Compel, which were each handily beat by Microsoft’s Visual Basic and PowerPoint.At AOL, the executives’ main strategy was focused on keeping Microsoft at bay.Becoming a higher profile company would help.They looked on eagerly as Allen continued to buy in and lend further credibility to their company.128THE ACCIDENTAL ZILLIONAIREBy fall, Allen held 746,000 shares in the company (he’d made other, smaller transactions along the way, via Savoy).It gave him a 13.5 percent stake.As the months wore on, he picked up more shares.All of a sudden, AOL’s board was a little nervous: Was Allen really just in it for an investment? He’d become very aggressive, buying up many shares in just a matter of months [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]