Their workers have traditional titles like manager, senior manager, and senior vice president. These workers help make up an organization with distinct boundaries between business entities. The two major lines of business within the company divide into four product groups. The first line of business, the Interactive Online Services business, is comprised of the Interactive Services Group, the Interactive Properties Group and the AOL International Company. The other line of business, Enterprise Solutions, is comprised of the Netscape Enterprise group. Functioning as separate entities, these product groups together form the largest Internet service provider in the world.Though having a largely bureaucratic system and entities acting separate from each other, AOL can also be seen as very entrepreneurial. To keep up with the fast paced industry, America Online feels they need resources in order to grow and be successful. Thus far, AOL has effectively been fulfilling their needs by diversifying and acquiring companies such as Netscape and CompuServe.In terms of performance, AOL is having record earnings. For example, they earned $271 million this quarter, up from $104 million the previous year. Operating income for the quarter jumped more than 155% since last years quarter to $383 million. Revenue rose to $1.8 billion, and advertising commerce and other revenues climbed about 103% over this quarter. In 1999, AOL added 1.7 million members worldwide while CompuServe and Gateway.net increased their customer base as well. In total, AOL and its subsidiaries added 2 million members, ending with 25.8 members. (America Onlines Annual Report 1999). "This quarter's results underscore the tremendous strength of America Online's operations, and demonstrate that we are on a clear path to continued strong growth and increased profitability. Since we announced our landmark merger with Time Warner, we haven't missed a beat." - Steve Case, Chairma...
