I worked for EarthLink three different times so it always holds a special place in my heart. It is tough to read things like this though. With all the cuts they’ve done, they were profitable in 2008 but really what does the future hold?
I’ve talked to the few people still there and it really is just a skeleton operation technically and eventually that will need to be cut. It really is too bad since there was always so much promise but really not as much execution.
All of this leaves EarthLink without a clear growth strategy. Once dial-up dies off, the company has no wireless or fixed infrastructure of its own to offer competing services. And even though cost-cutting has helped the company return to profitability, it won’t help solve the company’s fundamental problem, which is a lack of future strategy.
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COMMENTS / 4 COMMENTS
Josh Lucas added these pithy words on Feb 15 09 at 10:04 pmHow long do you think dialup is going to continue as a viable business? And I wonder if all the money the government is about to pour into such things will affect their market. My parents in rural Iowa, who had never had a cable line as an option, as just getting one back on their gravel road. Translation: Goodbye dial up Internet.
Ben Welsh added these pithy words on Feb 15 09 at 10:05 pmErr. I accidentally typed your name in the name box. I have no idea why. Can I blame alcohol?
Ben Welsh added these pithy words on Feb 15 09 at 10:05 pmWait. Is it overwriting my previous comments. Jeebus, this is going poorly.
josh added these pithy words on Feb 16 09 at 7:11 amWow, Ben, I might need to setup a ‘drunk commenting’ module with extra preview functionality.
At any rate, I think dial-up dies in about 2 years. There might be some stragglers but overall the majority of customers leave for broadband.
I think the bailout money + the digital transition is going to do it.
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