Where it all went wrong? WorldCom, AOL in deal for CompuServe

WorldCom, AOL in deal for CompuServe:

We sold off ANS to WorldCom.

As I reflect on where it all went wrong - I keep coming back to the day we decided that the pipe itself wasn't a valuable commodity. Yes, they are expensive, yes - we'd have to build out a network --- but oddly enough --- it turned out that nobody would build one for us, nor would they (re)sell us theirs at 'wholesale' prices.

Shortly after it was announced that a deal was in the works that would solve AOL's looming broadband problem --- don't worry management said (the "we're making history company meeting"). The deal, it turned out, was the Time Warner merger. So Broadband for AOL members had arrived? NOT.

Now if the synergy of the Time Warner merger would have panned out - we could have had AOL branded cable broadband. But apparently we promised we wouldn't in order to get the nod from the G-Men. And heck even if AOL/TW didn't agree to that - the protection of fiefdoms would have prevented it. I'm kind of hard pressed to think of any successful project that tried to integrate this "happy" dysfunctional family.