Five years ago: AOL says it's ready to grow

First published 9 April, 1997.

While analysts pin the current AOL offer to buy its rival at $1.2b, Case issued a statement that looked forward to a larger service. "With ... our continued expansion of our network ... the AOL community is beginning to grow again," said CEO Steve Case in an open letter posted on the AOL site.

One of the key attractions of CompuServe is its network services as AOL has been repeatedly panned for online traffic jams and downtime.