Dumbest business moments of the decade

As the first 10 years of the century draw to a close, we take a long hard look at exactly what got us into this mess.

1 of 10
BACKNEXT
Jan 10, 2000: You've got disaster!
Jan 10, 2000: You've got disaster!
AOL and Time Warner (Fortune's parent company) announced a $165 billion merger, promising to marry the best news and entertainment content with the distribution medium of the future, the Internet. To say it was a bad match is an exercise in understatement.

In 2002, AOL Time Warner posted the largest-ever U.S. corporate loss as it wrote off most of the value of the merger. The next year, the company bid adieu to the managers who created it and stripped AOL from the corporate letterhead.

This month, Time Warner and AOL finally parted ways, nine years later and more than $100 billion poorer. So much for the deal Ted Turner once gushed was better than sex.

By Colin Barr, senior writer

NEXT: Jan 25, 2001: The Maestro's dubious debt warning
Last updated December 16 2009: 10:24 AM ET
Email | Print | Share  |  RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
More Galleries
10 multi-million-dollar mega-yachts
10 multi-million-dollar mega-yachts
These folks definitely do not need a bigger boat. Peek inside some of the swankiest vessels on the high seas. More
Meet Facebook's "adult supervision"
Meet Facebook's "adult supervision"
The same seasoned vets Mark Zuckerberg leaned on for wisdom may now be tangled in the company's messy IPO. Here's a look at who's who. More
Thinking of you: Greeting cards for the Fortune 500
A bouquet of wishes for the folks on this year's list More
Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
© 2012 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy. Ad choices .