Mission Creek

from nytimes.com

I think this is an interesting statement of our times, where a company is willing to cut profits to compete with free services…..

Should AOL sacrifice its cash cow in hopes of finding a prosperous future?

…

Traditionally, when companies have profitable but shrinking businesses, like AOL’s access service, they try to milk as much money as they can from them without investing new cash. Indeed, that is what Mr. Miller has tried to do for the last several years.

Mr. Miller will defend his unusually draconian plan by arguing that trying to wring every last dime from its dial-up subscribers is preventing AOL from being as aggressive as it can in competing with Yahoo, Microsoft and Google on the Web, according to AOL executives involved in developing the proposal. With such powerful and fast-moving rivals, he wants to hasten the pain to speed the recovery.

This plan will require the board to accept lower profits at first until the advertising revenue grows further, the AOL executives said, although they declined to say how much profits would fall and at what rate…

full story here