Before the Internet ruled our lives, AOL brought America online with email and instant messenger.

By 2000, AOL was so powerful. It bought Media Giant Time Warner. This was a deal that was supposed to bring us into the future, revolutionized media, but instead, it became one of the messiest corporate disasters in history.

So what went wrong?

The dot-com crash, culture clashes, or something deeper?

Business Wars gives you a front-row seat to the biggest moments in business

and how they shape our world,

because when your flight perks disappear,

your favorite restaurant chain goes bankrupt or new tech threatens to reshape everything overnight, you can bet there's a deeper story behind the headlines.

I'm about to play a clip from the latest season of Business Wars, the AOL Time Warner disaster.

While you're listening, make sure to follow Business Wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your

podcasts.

It's September 27, 2000, and at AOL's head office in Dulles, Virginia, the end of the quarter is near, and that's got the

business affairs team worried. When the merger with Time Warner was announced, AOL's stock

traded at more than $70. Now it's hovering just above 55. That's over a 20% decline. And that's a

problem.

The merger deal was agreed based on AOL share price before the bottom fell out of tech stocks.

And the lower AOL stock sinks?

The more investors wonder if Time Warner might be wiser to abandon the merger.

So far, Time Warner boss Jerry Levin has dismissed that idea and reiterated his commitment

to the merger.

But AOL Chief Steve Case is worried all the same.

He knows that if Wall Street senses weakness at AOL, there will be a sell-off of its stock.

...