Mini-Essay: (back to top)

"I can buy 20 percent of you or I can buy all of you," Microsoft founder Bill Gates told Case in a 1993 business meeting. "Or I can go into business myself and bury you" (1). Even though visionary Steve Case has met more stumbling blocks than most and lost more than a billion dollars along the way, the founder of America On-line has proved Gates and other skeptics wrong by building AOL into the nation's premier online service provider.

Case's motto for success: "easy is better." In a world of high tech computer and gadgets, Case, a former Pizza Hut marketing exec, built AOL on the idea that any average person should be able to access the electronic world. AOL's chief objective is to simplify. For example, Case is to thank for introducing the first graphical interface to the online world, which allows users to get what ever they want by just clicking their mouse on the word or graphic. This has even led AOL to be nicknamed by its competitors as the "Internet on trainihng wheels" (2).

Case must be doing something right though. In 1985, out of the ashes of a failed venture called Control Video Corporation, he founded what was to become America Online. Today, AOL serves as the "gatekeeper to the Internet for 21 million home worldwide" (3).

Case, a native Hawaiian, has not had an easy road though. Not only was the online experience not an easy sell, when it did begin taking off, AOL moved to unlimited access at a flat rate to draw in customers. "America Onhold" became the new nickname, as AOL was so unprepared for the demand that its customers were unable to dial in, e-mails were not being delivered, and the company was forced to issue refunds (4).

With the help of new company president Robert Pittman, one of the founders of MTV, Case got AOL back on track. With massive advertising revenues, steep cuts in costs and a flood of investors buying AOl shares, America Online had the resources to do the unthinkable -- buy Internet software maker Netscape Communications Corp. and media giant Time Warner.

Notes: (back to top)

(1) Fred Vogelstein, "The Talanted Mr. Case," U.S. News and World Report, 24 January 2000, v128(3) p.41-43. Also Available [Online]: Business Source Elite [Accessed: 14 September, 2002].
(2) Joshua Cooper Ramo and Daniel Eisenberg, "How AOL Lost the Battles but Won the War," Time Australian, 22 September 1997, v38 p. 108-112. Also Available [Online]: Business Source Elite [Accessed: 14 September, 2002].
(3) Marc Gunther and Margaret Boitano, "These Guys Want It All," Fortune, 7 February 2000, v141(3) p.70-76. Also Available [Online]: Business Source Elite [Accessed: 14 September, 2002].
(4) Ramo and Eisenberg, 108-112.

Web Sites: (back to top)

Title: My Work

1) Title: Atypical CEO Steve Case Knows His Cards

• Address: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/ccarch/cckev014.htm
• Description: An article, written by Kevin Maney, published in USA Today on January 17, 2000. Maney has interviewed Case several times since 1990 when Case founded AOL. This article focuses a lot on Case's personality. Maney's chief objective is to explain Case's success. He gives two characteristics and a few detailed examples to lead to some very logical conclusions about the reasons for Case's ability to lead AOL from worst top first.
• Source: USA Today

2) Title: A Steve Case Study

• Address: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/case990110.html
• Description: A very in-depth story detailing the events of the America Online and Time Warner merger. The article includes stories of Case's childhood and how it foreshadowed his entrepreneurial success today. This news site also documents his climb to the top. In addition, the site includes video of the news conference when the two companies announced the merger. There is also a special section on the distinct personalities of AOL leaders, Case and Robert Pittman, and Time Warner's leaders, Ted Turner and Jerry Levin, and how they will mix in business.
• Source: ABC News

3) Title: My Work

• Address: http://hometown.aol.com/stevecase/
• Description: Steve Case's own words about how and why he founded America Online. This site has some very good background information about his life and it is straight from the source! It is very conversational and would be a good source for direct quotes. Case also addresses AOL's mission, while including some very valuable business statistics on the company's growth. There is also an extensive list of exactly what companies and Internet programs AOL Time Warner owns. In addition, Case writes why he merged with Time Warner and his plans and outlook for the future.
• Source: Steve Case (AOL)