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Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner Paperback – June 2, 2004

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Alec Klein (Author)
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3.9 out of 5 stars 30 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 2, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 074325984X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743259842
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars"Stealing Time" and Warner, Too
By Stephen A. Heins on July 3, 2003
Format: Hardcover
A review of Simon Schuster's new book, "Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner," by Alec Klein

First, I must issue the following disclaimer: I am the "aging flower child" in Mr. Klein's new book, entitled "Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner." That said, I think that my perspective as a spokesman for a small ISP from the Midwest allows me an overview unlike anyone else discussed in the book.

Overall, "Stealing Time" has established a standard for reporting on AOL and the AOL Time Warner merger that will be hard to top. If Mr. Klein's original reporting on AOL and the merger is the first draft of history, then his new book represents a first-rate second draft. No other reporter I know has had access to more sources and actors in the AOL Time Warner drama than Mr. Klein. His coverage of the early days of Steve Case and the company that would become AOL was particularly informative for the general readership.

Besides the use of impressionism, the narrative achieves a terseness and non-linear quality that does much to engage the reader. At each stage, one has to reflect on the individual anecdote and where it fits into the historical process of the current state of AOL Time Warner's evolution.

Another strength of the book is the author's ability to provide well-rounded caricatures of all the various players, large and small, who peopled this technological passion play. In particular, I was captivated by the chapter entitled "AOL Versus the World," and not just because I am part of it.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsExcellent look behind the scenes at the AOL disaster
By Doug Terry on June 23, 2003
Format: Hardcover
This is a terrific new book by a Washington Post reporter who followed AOL for the newspaper through its ups, its way ups, its downs and its way downs (now). The most appealing part of the book is that the subject is approached without malice. Klein could have taken a muckraking, expose the crooks attitude, but he did not. Perhaps this is because he spent so much time with "the boys at AOL" during the time he covered them for the Post.
The book appears to be very thoroughly documented and balanced. In the end, however, we are left with one, strong conclusion: AOL cooked the books to get the merger done with Time Warner and continued to cook them as long as possible to keep the numbers up after the merger. They did so, as has been documented previously, by booking phony ad sales when money flowed both ways and counting as revenue money that had not yet arrived.
This book is lively, a quick read and not harshly judgmental toward AOL, even while presenting strong indications that negative judgments would be justified. As at other high flying enterprises in the 1990s, AOL people often used company money like it was Iraqi dinars looted from the central bank. The "expensed" lavish trips and parties and rode their stock options to the stars. Almost every reference to Steve Case finds him in a different city, often other continents. Why work when you can travel in high style?
There is no doubt that a kind of stock and money madness enveloped AOL. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect, for some, will be the revelations about how much money was wasted both by AOL and its stock optioned employees on their own. While the record is shocking, I have a feeling that Klien barely scratched the surface in this regard.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsWho ultimately loses at the end?
By eclectictastes on July 23, 2003
Format: Hardcover
I have a feeling that once the smoke clears, it will be the customers who pay the price for the AOL Time Warner debacle. I say this as a reader of this book and a consumer who has pulled my hair out trying to deal with both companies after the merger only to discover the right hand didn't know what the left was doing.
Klein's reporting brings clarity and insight to those of us who don't quite grasp the goings on at AOL Time Warner. It also provides us with a better understanding of the hostility many in the business world seem to have toward AOL. The internet officials seem to have had constant ethical lapses, often played it fast and loose with their competitiors, and bullied their supposed business partners.
Greed seems to be the overriding principle here as Steve Case and Jerry Levin, two very different individuals joined their companies together. The "old media" Time Warner was not prepared for new kid AOL, a company which seems to have operated since it's beginning with an illusion of greater financial success than it actually had. One wonders if a little investigation by Time Warner officials into AOL's practices could have avoided the disaster.
Klein successfully pieces together how in the end, Case and Levin are undone by their own arrogance and people such as Ted Turner and Dick Parsons, colleagues they grossly underestimated.
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2.0 out of 5 starsNo business perspective
By J. Friedman on September 16, 2004
Format: Paperback
Stealing Time provides a lot of details on the individuals involved in the AOL Time Warner merger, but no business perspective.

AOL overtook CompuServe, Prodigy and other on-line services to become an industry leader with a market capitalization greater than General Motors. Was this due to luck? Or good decisions? Was it because of Steve Case, or in spite of Steve Case? Stealing Time tells us about Steve Case's personality quirks, but it doesn't look at the business context to tell us if he was a flawed genius or a lucky flake.

The AOL Time Warner merger was severely troubled. But was it a brilliant idea killed by bad execution, or a false view of synergy doomed from the start? Stealing Time gives us the personalities and boardroom maneuvers, but no context to know if thie was a tragedy of missed opportunities or simply a comedy of errors.

So if you are interested in the clash of personalities, Stealing Time has some good material, but if you are interested in why AOL was successful and why AOL Time Warner was not, this book doesn't have anything to say.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsInaccuracies

Many inaccuracies.

Published 17 months ago by Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsA JOURNALIST'S ACCOUNT OF THIS CONTROVERSIAL AND CATASTROPHIC MERGER

Journalist Alec Klein wrote in the first chapter of this 2003 book, "The two companies would work together to forge a future when technology merged with media, creating... Read more

Published on February 10, 2014 by Steven H Propp
5.0 out of 5 starsA JOURNALIST'S ACCOUNT OF THIS CONTROVERSIAL AND CATASTROPHIC MERGER

Journalist Alec Klein wrote in the first chapter of this 2003 book, "The two companies would work together to forge a future when technology merged with media, creating... Read more

Published on February 10, 2014 by Steven H Propp
2.0 out of 5 starsFlat, disappointing read

This book is well written and clearly written. It has so many anecdotal tales about the key players in the AOL Time Merger. Read more

Published on June 19, 2013 by Inquiring Reader
5.0 out of 5 starsHistory and a Whole lot More

First, the style of this book makes for a great and enjoyable read.

The story begins with the background of an eccentric entrepreneur who has a tendency to have great... Read more

Published on June 30, 2007 by Chris
5.0 out of 5 starsThe downfall of a great company (Time Warner)

AOL Time Warner has been one of the most disastrous mergers of the century but it had the glimpse of the future in it. Read more

Published on December 19, 2006 by Lehigh History Student
2.0 out of 5 starsGood story, Poor writer

I really wanted to learn about this fascinating story: the dynamic personalities, the diametrically opposite companies, and their highly publicized $170b(?) merger. Read more

Published on December 18, 2004 by conscaph
3.0 out of 5 starsthoughts

good book that provides an interesting snap shot of the late 90s. Drags a bit in the third quarter and never quite rebounds.

Published on December 10, 2004 by L. Hackenberg
5.0 out of 5 starsCompelling Tale of Corporate Malfeasance

"Stealing Time" is a riveting saga told succinctly by Washington Post reporter Alec Klein. Depending on your point of view, it either comes across as a thriller or a Greek tragedy... Read more

Published on November 5, 2004 by John Kwok
5.0 out of 5 starsThe mother of all culture clashes

This is an excellent book on a variety of scores.
It is eminantly readable and well written--informative and entertaining and very difficult to put down. Read more

Published on April 9, 2004

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