AOL's Dealmakers

from the wow dept

The stories of AOL's reputation for bullying startups into doing deals with them are nothing new. We've written about them for years. Most recently, we spoke about how it was coming back to haunt them as they struggled to create a new reputation. The Washington Post is running a fascinating excerpt from a new book profiling two of the main dealmakers and their "techniques" for browbeating companies into doing deals with them (including pulling out a hunting knife and threatening to kill someone). Quite a story. The excerpt is from the book, Stealing Time : Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner. Reading the excerpt sounds like something out of a movie. It's stunning that these guys got away with everything they did.