Some Company Called Bending Spoons Just Bought AOL: What We Know and Why It Feels... Off

So, AOL got sold. Again.

This time, the dusty old attic of the internet is being handed over to a slick Italian outfit called Bending Spoons. If you haven't heard of them, don't worry, you're not supposed to. They're the guys who operate in the background, like a high-end demolition crew, buying up digital properties that time forgot and "transforming" them.

When the news broke that AOL Sold to Italian Tech Company Bending Spoons, CEO Luca Ferrari said AOL is an "iconic, beloved business" with "unexpressed potential." Let me translate that from PR-speak into English: "AOL has a bunch of old, loyal users we haven't squeezed for every last penny yet."

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Mr. Ferrari and his three co-founders—all newly minted billionaires, by the way—are very smart people. You don't build a $10 billion "decacorn" by being stupid. But their playbook is so predictable it's almost boring. They find a brand with some name recognition, buy it, and then proceed to "optimize" it. And "optimization," in their world, seems to be a synonym for firing everyone and gutting the free service that made the brand popular in the first place. This isn't a rescue mission; it's a corporate raid disguised with a friendly, quirky name.

The Billionaire's Playbook: Gut, Monetize, Repeat

Let's be real. Bending Spoons is the tech equivalent of a house-flipper who buys a historic landmark, promises to restore its charm, and then rips out all the original details to install gray vinyl flooring and stainless steel appliances. The facade might look the same, but the soul has been surgically removed.

Just ask the entire staff of Filmic, the video app company they bought in 2022. They were all laid off. Or ask the folks at Evernote. Or WeTransfer. The story is always the same: acquisition, followed by a press release full of hopeful jargon, followed by mass layoffs and a "reimagined" pricing structure that punishes loyal, free users. They call it "reconfiguring the team." No, 'reconfiguring' doesn't cover it—this is a bloodbath executed via spreadsheet.

The company claims it’s a "long-term steward" that "aims to hold forever." That's a nice line for investors, but what does it actually mean for the products? Holding forever doesn’t mean nurturing. A python holds its prey "forever," too. It just slowly squeezes the life out of it. If you're really a long-term owner, why does your first move always look like you're preparing the asset for liquidation? What kind of "stewardship" begins by firing the people who built the damn thing?

I keep looking at their portfolio—Evernote, Meetup, StreamYard, Komoot—and it feels less like a vibrant ecosystem and more like a collection of heads mounted on a wall. Each one a trophy from a successful hunt. Now, AOL's head is about to join them. It's a company with 30 million monthly users, a relic from an era when the internet made a screeching sound before it connected. And Bending Spoons sees that user base not as a community to serve, but as a resource to be mined. Offcourse they do, they've got bills to pay.

You've Got Debt

And oh boy, do they have bills. Bending Spoons financed this and other shopping sprees with a staggering $2.8 billion in debt. That’s billion with a ‘B’. You don’t take on that kind of leverage from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs without having a very clear, and very aggressive, plan to get your money back. And that plan ain't gonna be funded by warm, fuzzy feelings for the "You've Got Mail" soundbite.

It's going to be funded by cutting costs to the bone—that means people, servers, everything—and by converting as many of those 30 million free AOL email users into paying customers as possible. Get ready for "AOL Pro Gold," "AOL Platinum," and a dozen other tiers designed to make you pay for features that have been free for twenty-five years.

And who is cheering this on? A bizarre collection of celebrity investors including Bradley Cooper, Andre Agassi, and The Weeknd. What, exactly, is their strategic input here? Does The Weeknd have strong opinions on email client user interface design? It’s just another example of the absurdity of modern finance, where fame is treated as a substitute for expertise. It just feels... hollow.

Maybe I'm just an old cynic. Maybe this time it'll be different. Maybe the four Italian billionaires, backed by Bradley Cooper's cash, really do have a magical plan to make AOL relevant again in a world dominated by Gmail and Outlook. But their track record screams otherwise. Their business model isn't innovation; it's extraction. They aren't builders; they're refiners, boiling down beloved brands until only the profitable essence remains.

So, What's the Real Price?

Let's cut the crap. The reported $1.5 billion price tag for AOL isn't the real cost. The real cost will be paid by the employees who are about to get "reconfigured" out of a job and the millions of users who are about to find their free, reliable email service held hostage. Bending Spoons didn't just buy a company; they bought a user base. And if you're one of them, get ready, because the bill is coming due. You've got mail, and it's an invoice.