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AOL signs on to NYSE
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September 16, 1996: 7:12 p.m. ET
Steve Case talks about global positioning, new online strategies
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- In a move Chairman Steve Case sees as related to global positioning, online giant America Online moved its listing Monday to the New York Stock Exchange from the Nasdaq Stock Market.
"We want to be, in our industry, what Microsoft is to software, what AT&T is to communications -- a real global leader," Case told CNN's Business Day.
However, AOL's stock closed Friday at $27 a share -- dramatically lower than the issue's 52-week high of $71.
And the company, which had been adding 1 million new subscribers per quarter earlier this year, signed up only 300,000 in its latest three-month period.
Case said AOL is responding by launching a new marketing campaign this fall, complete with a new interface, services and pricing strategy.
The executive said he expects AOL's subscription base to pick up after the launch, growing to 10 million by next summer from about 6 million today.
Case said he hopes to convert the 89 percent of American households that don't currently access online services into AOL users.
He said AOL is also trying to shift from a subscriber-fee revenue system to an advertising- and transaction-fee one.
Case said intrusive ads could become less annoying to subscribers -- and even become a value-added service -- if AOL carefully targets the promos to match users' interests.
"This is the bottom of the first inning in terms of building a medium that can get the kind of success of cable television or the telephone," the executive said.
"It's not just about Internet access," Case explained. "AOL has the best Internet access out there, but people need more than just an on-ramp to the Internet."
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