AOL is owned by Apollo (the United States, NYSE: APO), which acquired the brand on 1 September 2021, as part of a $5 billion deal that also included Yahoo, Yahoo Mail and 3 others.[1][2] AOL was founded in 1985 in New York, New York and was independent until 2021.
Evidence: Apollo Global Management, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-25, SEC EDGAR, 25 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
AOL brought millions of Americans online through dial-up in the 1990s, mailing out free trial discs in enormous quantities. Its $165 billion merger with Time Warner in 2000 is widely regarded as the worst corporate deal ever made; Verizon bought what remained in 2015 for $4.4 billion.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Apollo ownership tree →
See the full Apollo brand portfolio (6) →
Apollo controls 6 brands on Brandtree, 6 of them in internet & digital.
Apollo has more brands in search engines on Brandtree than any other owner: 2 of 10.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Quark | Alibaba | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong |
| Google Search | Alphabet | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Baidu Search | Baidu | 🇨🇳 China |
| Yahoo! JAPAN | LY Corporation | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Bing | Microsoft | 🇺🇸 United States |
| NAVER | NAVER | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Seznam Search | Seznam | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic |
| Yandex Search | Yandex | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Apollo is a private-equity firm headquartered in New York, New York, United States, founded in 1990. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: APO.
Apollo Global Management is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, founded in 1990 by former Drexel Burnham bankers. It bought ninety per cent of Yahoo from Verizon in 2021, which means the websites that defined the early consumer internet are now owned by a buyout fund rather than a technology company.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,550 brands that began in the United States. 479 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; AOL is not one of them.
Funds managed by Apollo Global Management acquired ninety per cent of Verizon Media, comprising Yahoo and AOL and their properties, in a deal valued at about $5 billion. Verizon retained the remaining ten per cent.
The parent company of AOL is Apollo, a private-equity firm headquartered in the United States.
Yes. AOL originated in the United States in 1985 and its owner, Apollo, is also headquartered in the United States.
Apollo completed its acquisition of AOL on 1 September 2021, after announcing the deal on 3 May 2021. The deal, which also included Yahoo and Yahoo Mail and 3 others, was valued at $5 billion (enterprise value).
AOL was an independent company from its founding in 1985 in New York, New York until Apollo acquired it in 2021.
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, AOL is still owned by Apollo. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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