The Day the Dotcom Bust Began

The lesson we still refuse to learn about the ill-fated AOL-TimeWarner Merger

The Internet changed for me on the morning of January 10, 2000, when an editor from the New York Times called to ask if I could bang out an OpEd by that afternoon. I was thrilled. The culture of the net, which I had been writing about since the late 1980’s, was finally mainstream enough for the Gray Lady to solicit a think piece from a fringe, cyberpunk writer like me.

But the editor wanted my commentary on something slightly different: Time Warner, a venerable “old media” company, had just announced it would be acquired by America Online — an internet access company that had only been in existence for a decade. Did this mean the Internet had truly arrived? Could I please explain what this merger really meant, in plain English?

I didn’t want to give up the opportunity, but this wasn’t really my beat. I was a media and culture writer. I knew about movies, television, computer games, online communities, and the subcultures they spawn. I was interested in virtual reality, electronic dance parties, chaos math, digital storytelling, media viruses and fractals.

This was a business story. What did I know about stock-only deals, board representation, and market caps? I figured I’d wing it. The…