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Phil Harvey

300 an Hour!

November 02, 2005 | Phil Harvey |

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


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