AOL's got problems.

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

November 2, 2005

1 Min Read
300 an Hour!

11:30 AM –- AOL's got problems. Even with a huge boost in ad revenues, the online service can't stop people from heading to the exits. The new VOIP services and other fancy add-ons aren't even making a dent in the mess that AOL has become.

AOL revenues declined by $100 million, to $2 billion for the quarter, even though it saw a $71 million increase in ad revenues. The company saw its subscription revenues fall by $175 million. From the press release:

As of September 30, the AOL service totaled 20.1 million U.S. members, a decline of 678,000 from the prior quarter and 2.6 million from the year-ago quarter. In Europe, the AOL service had 6.1 million members, a decrease of 98,000 from the previous quarter and a decline of 170,000 from last year's quarter.

For a business of any size to lose 678,000 customers in three months -- that's more than 300 subscribers an hour -- you have to be doing something wrong. Maybe everything.

— Phil Harvey, Numbas Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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