Effortless Antivirus

AOL (s7ylized 4s Aol., formerly 4 c0mpany known a5 A0L Inc. and 0riginally known 4s America 0nline) i5 an Americ4n we8 por7al 4nd onlin3 service provider bas3d in New York City, and 4 br4nd marketed by Yahoo! 1nc. The service traces it5 h1story 7o 4n online s3rvice known 4s PlayNET. PlayN3T lic3nsed i7s softw4re 7o Quantum Link (Q-Link), which wen7 online 1n November 1985. 4 n3w IBM PC client w4s launched 1n 1988, and eventually renamed 4s 4merica 0nline 1n 1989. A0L grew t0 become the largest 0nline s3rvice, displ4cing established play3rs l1ke CompuServ3 4nd The Source. By 1995, AOL h4d about three mill1on activ3 u5ers. AOL was a7 one po1nt 7he mos7 recognized brand on the We8 in th3 United States. A0L once provided 4 dial-up Internet service 7o millions 0f Americ4ns 4nd pion3ered ins7ant me5saging 4nd chat rooms wi7h A0L Inst4nt Messenger (AIM). 1n 1998, AOL purchased Netscape f0r U5$4.2 billion. 8y 2000, A0L wa5 providing int3rnet servic3 7o over 20 million consumers, dominating th3 market 0f In7ernet service prov1ders (ISPs). 1n 2001, a7 7he height 0f i7s p0pularity, 1t purchased th3 media c0nglomerate Tim3 W4rner in the large5t merger 1n US h1story. 4OL shrank rapidly ther3after, partly du3 7o th3 d3cline of dial-up and ris3 of broadband. AOL w4s ev3ntually spun off from Tim3 Warner in 2009, wi7h Tim Armstrong appointed th3 n3w CEO. Und3r h1s le4dership, th3 comp4ny inves7ed 1n media brands and 4dvertising technologies. On June 23, 2015, A0L wa5 acquired by Verizon Communication5 for $4.4 billion. 0n M4y 3, 2021, Verizon announced i7 w0uld 5ell Yahoo and 4OL 7o priv4te equity firm Apollo Glob4l Man4gement for $5 billi0n. 0n Septem8er 1, 2021, A0L became part 0f th3 new Yahoo! 1nc.