Two AOL's better than one for Time Warner

AOL, which has been aggressively expanding its ad business by dropping subscriber fees to attract more users, saw revenue drop by 16 per cent in second-quarter profits for the three months to June 30, precisly due to this new strategy.

The web portal also lost $200 million or 29 per cent in subscription revenue, and its shares have lost about two thirds of their value since the American media giant acquired them in 2001 for $124 billion.

“I’m pleased by the overall performance of our businesses so far this year, particularly in light of the challenging economic environment," says chief executive Jeff Bewkes. 

“We’ve also made significant progress in our top structural initiatives.