Robert W. Pittman and Stephen M. Case: Making AOL A-O.K. For ROBERT W. PITTMAN, president, and STEPHEN M. CASE, CEO, of America Online Inc., 1998 was a year of sweet revenge. As recently as two years ago, AOL was dismissed by Internet cognoscenti as an idea whose time had come--and gone. All the real action was on the World Wide Web, not proprietary content services like AOL. But faster than a speeding cursor, this pair of cybermanagers has turned once-ailing AOL from a has-been to the undisputed champ of the online world. No one who doubted AOL's staying power is skeptical anymore: In November, Case, 40, harnessed the technology horsepower of Silicon Valley with his $4.2 billion purchase of Netscape Communications Corp. and a marketing agreement with Sun Microsystems Inc. In a single stroke, AOL became a credible rival to Microsoft Corp. in the war for Internet supremacy. Even before that deal, Pittman, 45, was building AOL into a widely recognized consumer brand, positioning it to be the Coca-Cola or McDonald's of the online world. He lured online merchants to advertise and sell their wares to AOL's 14 million subscribers. And with the promise of a more predictable earnings stream based not just on subscription fees but also on potentially more lucrative E-commerce revenues, Case and Pittman have been able to sell AOL as the first ''blue chip'' Internet stock. That's helped AOL's shares to jump nearly 600% this year. That's an incredible reversal from a few years ago, when AOL looked to be fading fast under a barrage of busy signals. In 1997, AOL suffered a $499 million loss. A year later, AOL hauled in $91.8 million in net income on revenues of $2.6 billion. Moreover, Case and Pittman turned things around with unusually effective teamwork, despite sharply different styles. Case, an intense introvert, is the big-picture strategizer. Pittman, a talkative extrovert, is the savvy dealmaker and marketing guru. Together, they proved AOL can be cool--as well as profitable. RELATED ITEMS The 25 Top Executives of the Year COVER IMAGE: The Top 25 Executives of the Year TABLE: The Honor Roll Timothy A. Koogle: Shouting Yahoo! Jurgen E. Schrempp: Deal of the Decade Charles R. Schwab and David S. Pottruck: Schwab's E-Gambit Nobuyuki Idei: Sony's Visionary Steven P. Jobs: A Boss's Life Millard S. Drexler: Daddy Gap Marilyn Carlson Nelson: Travel Titan Craig R. Barrett: Intel's Ironman Robert W. Pittman and Stephen M. Case: Making AOL A-O.K. Kwok Yuen Ho: Wizard of 3-D David D. Glass: Second Wind for Wal-Mart L. Dennis Kozlowski: Compulsive Shopper Scott G. McNealy: Java's Percolator Karen L. Katen: Pfizer's Pep Pill Stephen M. Wolf and Rakesh Gangwal: High Fliers Ferdinand Piech: Baron Von Bug Richard A. McGinn: Light Speed Walter V. Shipley: Bank Roll Michael S. Dell: Nerdy Like a Fox John T. Chambers: Cisco's Live Wire Lloyd Ward: Front-Load Lion Allan Wong: Toy Story Jorma Ollila: Finn Fatale Leo J. Hindery Jr.: Cable Cowboy Edward E. Whitacre Jr.: The Busiest Bell Executives to Watch in 1999 The Top Entrepreneurs Return to main story

Updated Dec. 30, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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