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Truckload of Money (6/17/98)
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The world's largest online service is apparently perfectly happy remaining independent. According to an Associated Press article, they just turned down a buyout offer from AT&T, who was willing to pay "comfortably above" AOL's current market value. And considering that AOL's market value is over $19 billion, that's a pretty serious pile of cash.

That AT&T was willing to pay so much for an online service shows just how badly they're trying to break into the internet business. Unfortunately for them, AOL is sitting pretty and apparently thinks they are in a great position to keep growing as more and more families buy computers and want internet service. And the reports of AT&T's interest actually drove AOL's stock up seven percent, as Wall Street becomes aware of AOL's position.

Apple, as most of you know, officially declared AOL the Apple-sanctioned online service of choice, when its own eWorld tanked following a less-than-enthralling reception. We never got to try eWorld, but we've never been overly pleased with AOL being Apple's official online service. Granted, it's easy to use, but we'd like to see Apple partnering with some standard ISP's instead. The internet setup assistant in Mac OS 8 is a good first step.

 
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The above scene was taken from the 6/17/98 episode:

June 17, 1998: Is Filemaker Pro is danger of being sold off? Mac the Knife seems to think so. Meanwhile, a rare Spartacus has been spotted on the set of MTV's the Real World, and AOL refuses to sell out to AT&T, despite an offer of about $20 billion...

Other scenes from that episode:

  • 782: "What's a Spin-Off?" (6/17/98)   Good heavens, could Filemaker Pro be in trouble? We certainly don't want to be unnecessarily alarmist, but Mac the Knife reports that Filemaker, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple) is currently discussing whether or not they should sell off the database program...

  • 783: The Real Spartacus (6/17/98)   Those of you who were regular Seinfeld viewers know the loss the Mac world suffered when that show recently ended its nine-year career. Jerry, after all, pretty much always had a Mac on his desk in the last several seasons...

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