Yahoo and AOL, kings of the early internet, saw their fortunes decline as Silicon Valley raced ahead to create new digital platforms. Google replaced Yahoo. AOL was supplanted by cable giants. Now they will become the property of private equity. Verizon, their current owner, agreed to sell them to Apollo Global Management in a deal worth $5 billion, the companies announced Monday.
In 2002, Yahoo had the chance to buy Google for 3 billion. (Same story says they nearly bought Facebook for 1.1 billion.)
In January 2000, AOL acquired Time-Warner for 350 billion.
What a decline.