Personal Background: Stephen Case
America Online
3-year return: 1,466%
AGE: 40
CEO since: 1993
個人資料:
斯蒂芬.凱斯（Stephen Case ）
美國在線服務公司
三年的投資回報率：1,466%
年齡：40歲
任職CEO起始時間：1993年
Last year, AOL acquired netscape for about 8 percent of AOL's market cap. Just two years
earlier, Netscape's market cap was half that of AOL. Fortunes change easily in virtual reality,
and lately Case has been a big winner in the Internet lottery. AOL's new 4.0 software helped
turn around the company's image as an unhip online crutch for neophytes. Case's decision to
bring in MTV creator Robert W. Pittman as AOL president didn't hurt, either. Pittman's deft hand
at building brand identity has been a tremendous success--four million new subscribers signed on
to AOL in the past year, bringing paid subscriptions to 16 million. Case's smartest move of the
year, however, was the $4.2 billion Netscape acquisition tied to a marketing agreement with Sun
Microsystems. The deal positions AOL to become a powerful player in the burgeoning E-commerce
market.
去年，美國在線服務公司（AOL）要求美國NETSCAPE公司8%的市場覆蓋率。而早在兩年之前，美國
NETSCAPE公司的市場覆蓋率僅占美國在線服務公司市場覆蓋率的一半。在現實生活中好運總是不期而至，最近
斯蒂芬o凱斯（Stephen Case ）成為互聯網事業的一位大贏家。美國在線服務公司新開發的4.0軟件使整個公
司的形象有了一個大的轉變，人們不再認為AOL公司是一家跟不上時代潮流的、聯機操作方面的新手了。斯蒂
芬o凱斯引入音樂電視的制作人羅伯特o彼特曼（Robert W. Pittman）作為AOL公司總裁的決策是高明的。羅伯
特o彼特曼在塑造品牌形象方面的出色表現使AOL公司獲得了巨大的成功--僅去年一年就有四百萬的新客戶在
AOL注冊上線，付費預訂的金額達到了1600萬元。然而，斯蒂芬o凱斯在該年的高明之舉也使NETSCAPE公司與美
國SUN公司簽訂了42億元的銷售協議。這筆交易使AOL公司成為萌芽階段的電子商務市場的最有實力的競爭者。
Business Philosophy: "Lead the pack of competitors." Stick to "anchor strategy" even in the
face of criticism.
公司的運營理念：走在競爭者的前列。即使是在面臨困境時期，公司仍然堅持"鎖定戰略"。
Headache: Broadband. If consumers demand the lightning-fast new technology (up to 1,000
times faster than a standard modem), then AOL will have to strike deals with cable or fiber-
optic carriers to survive. That could also mean a shift in the balance of power in favor of
telecom companies. On March 11, AOL made its second such deal, with SBC Communications, making
higher-speed AOL connections available to 8.4 million SBC customers for a surcharge of $20 a
month.
（未完待續）
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