Overview

Every era has its merger; every era has its story. For the New Media age it was an even bigger disaster: the AOL-Time Warner deal. At the time AOL and Time Warner were considered a matchless combination of old media content and new media distribution. But very soon after the deal was announced things started to go bad--and then from bad to worse. Less than four years after the deal was announced, every significant figure in the deal -save the politically astute Richard Parsons--has left the company, along with scores of others. Nearly a $100 billion was written off and a stock that once traded at $100 now trades near $10. What happened? Where did it all go wrong? In this deeply sourced and deftly written book, Nina Munk gives us a window into the minds of two of the oddest men to ever run billion-dollar empires. Steve Case, the boy wonder who built AOL one free floppy disk at a time, was searching for a way out of the New Economy. Meanwhile Jerry Levin, who'd made his reputation as a visionary when he put HBO on satellite distribution, was searching for a monumental deal. These two men, more interested in their place in history than their personal fortunes, each thought they were out-smarting the other.

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9780060540357

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The best read...a sharp-edged narrative. -- Barron's

[A] delightfully scathing account of the AOL/Time Warner merger... --Smart Money Superb... a tour de force that explores the motivations and actions of all the key players. --Fast Company The best read...a sharp-edged narrative. --Barron's Marrying exemplary reporting with lively, lucid writing, Munk makes a devastating case that Levin wrecked the legacy of Henry Luce. --New York Times Book Review The most detailed account yet. . . . a compelling, fast-paced narrative. --Financial Times Eminently enjoyable...a gossipy, in-depth look at a deal doomed from the start. A- --Entertainment Weekly A mesmerizing tale of corporate intrigue. --Philadelphia Inquirer A gossipy tragicomedy that surely has Time founder Henry Luce making like a DVD in his good methodist grave. --Wall Street Journal

Eminently enjoyable...a gossipy, in-depth look at a deal doomed from the start. A- -- Entertainment Weekly [A] delightfully scathing account of the AOL/Time Warner merger... -- Smart Money Superb... a tour de force that explores the motivations and actions of all the key players. -- Fast Company Marrying exemplary reporting with lively, lucid writing, Munk makes a devastating case that Levin wrecked the legacy of Henry Luce. -- New York Times Book Review A gossipy tragicomedy that surely has Time founder Henry Luce making like a DVD in his good methodist grave. -- Wall Street Journal The best read...a sharp-edged narrative. -- Barron's The most detailed account yet. . . . a compelling, fast-paced narrative. -- Financial Times A mesmerizing tale of corporate intrigue. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

[A] delightfully scathing account of the AOL/Time Warner merger... --Smart Money

Author Information

Nina Munk is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. A former senior writer for Fortune, her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Forbes. Born in Canada, she lives in New York City.

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