Editing Steve Case (section)

== Life and career ==
Steve Case was born and grew up in [[Honolulu, Hawaii]],<ref name="VanVoris20060801">{{cite news |url=http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/01/business/story03.html |title=Steve Case immerses himself in life after AOL |author=Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg News |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=August 1, 2006 |access-date=May 1, 2008 |archive-date=April 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408172249/http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/01/business/story03.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> the son of Carol and Daniel Case.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/07/01/breaking-news/noted-attorney-daniel-case-dies/ |title=Noted attorney Daniel Case dies |author=Michael Tsai |publisher=Honolulu Star-Adviser |date=July 1, 2016 }}</ref> He graduated from the private [[Punahou School]]<ref name="VanVoris20060801" /> in 1976 and attended Central Union Church.

Case graduated from [[Williams College]] in [[Williamstown, Massachusetts]] in 1980 with a degree in [[political science]]. For the next two years he worked as an assistant brand manager at [[Procter & Gamble]] in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]]. In 1982 he joined [[Pizza Hut|Pizza Hut Inc.]] in [[Wichita, Kansas]], serving as manager of new pizza marketing.<ref name="VanVoris20060801" />

In January 1983, his older brother, Dan, an investment banker, introduced him to [[Bill von Meister]], CEO of Control Video Corporation. The company was marketing a service called [[GameLine]] for the [[Atari 2600]] [[video game console]] that allowed users to download games via a phone line and [[modem]]. After that meeting, von Meister hired Case as a marketing consultant.<ref name="VanVoris20060801" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Ashby |first=Ruth |title=Steve Case: America Online Pioneer |year=2002 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |location=Brookfield, Conn. |isbn=0-7613-2655-3 |chapter=Page 17 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TV4bEYv2MGAC&pg=PA17 |quote=His brother Dan introduced him to ... Bill Von Meister |url=https://archive.org/details/stevecase00ruth }}</ref> Later that year, the company nearly went [[bankruptcy|bankrupt]] and one of its investors, [[Frank Caufield]], brought in his friend [[Jim Kimsey]] as a manufacturing consultant. Case later joined the company as a full-time marketing employee.

In 1985 Quantum Computer Services, an online services company, was founded by Jim Kimsey from the remnants of Control Video. Kimsey became CEO of the newly renamed [[Quantum Computer Services]] and hired Case as vice president of marketing. In 1987 he promoted him again to executive vice president.  Kimsey groomed Case to become chairman and CEO when Kimsey retired, and the transition formally took place in 1991 (CEO) and 1995 (chairman).

As part of the changes that gave birth to Quantum, Case changed the company's strategy, creating an online service called [[Quantum Link]] (Q-Link for short) for the [[Commodore 64]] in 1985 with programmer (and AOL co-founder) [[Marc Seriff]]. In 1988, Quantum began offering the [[AppleLink]] online service for [[Apple Computer|Apple]] and [[PC Link]] for [[IBM compatible]] computers.  In 1991 he changed the company name to [[America Online]] and merged the Apple and PC services under the AOL name; the new service reached 1 million subscribers by 1994, and Q-Link was terminated October 21 of that year.

AOL pioneered the concept of social media, as its focus from day one was on communication features such as chatrooms, instant messaging and forums.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall2000/mcatee/|title= AOL A History|access-date= June 13, 2011|archive-date= August 19, 2005|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050819145032/http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall2000/McAtee/|url-status= dead}}</ref> Case believed that the "killer app" was community — people interacting with each other — and that was the driver of much of AOL's early success.  By contrast, competitive services of the time such as [[Prodigy (online service)|Prodigy]] funded by [[IBM]] and [[Sears]], focused on shopping, and [[CompuServe]] focused on being an information utility.<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://www.askmen.com/celebs/men/business_politics/49_steve_case.html|title= Steve Case Biography|newspaper= AskMen|access-date= June 13, 2011|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111007060307/http://www.askmen.com/celebs/men/business_politics/49_steve_case.html|archive-date= October 7, 2011}}</ref>
AOL's strategy was to make online services available and accessible to the mass market by making them affordable, easy to use, useful and fun.<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://topics.wsj.com/person/C/steve-case/603|archive-url= https://archive.today/20120716001412/http://topics.wsj.com/person/C/steve-case/603|url-status= dead|archive-date= July 16, 2012|title= Steve Case|newspaper= The Wall Street Journal|access-date= June 13, 2011}}</ref> At a time when competing services like CompuServe were charging for each minute of access (which varied based on modem speeds and added extra charges for premium services), AOL priced its service at $19.95 per month for unlimited use of basic tier services beginning in 1996.<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://www.webhostingreport.com/learn/aol.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110101185453/http://www.webhostingreport.com/learn/aol.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= January 1, 2011|title= The History of AOL|newspaper= WebHostingReport.com|access-date= June 11, 2011}}</ref> Within three years, AOL's userbase grew to 10 million, ultimately reaching 26.7 million users at its peak in 2002.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tedeschi|first1=Bob|title=AOL store tempts comparison shoppers|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/business/worldbusiness/aol-store-tempts-comparison-shoppers.html|access-date=January 6, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=September 14, 2004}}</ref>

Among many initiatives in the early years of AOL, Case personally championed many innovative online interactive titles and games, including graphical chat environments [[Habitat (video game)|Habitat]] (1986) and [[Club Caribe]] (1989), the first online interactive fiction series [[QuantumLink Serial]] by [[Tracy Reed (writer)|Tracy Reed]] (1988), [[Stormfront Studios|Quantum Space]], the first fully automated [[Play-by-mail game|Play by email]] game (1989), and the original [[Dungeons & Dragons]] title ''[[Neverwinter Nights (AOL game)|Neverwinter Nights]]'', the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game ([[MMORPG]]) to depict the adventure with graphics instead of text (1991).

After a decade of quick growth, AOL merged with media giant [[Time Warner]] in 2001, creating one of the world's largest media, entertainment and communications companies.<ref>{{Cite news|date=January 12, 2001|title=AOL Time Warner: Timeline of the merger|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1113599.stm|access-date=November 21, 2020}}</ref> The $164 billion acquisition was completed in January 2001 but quickly ran into trouble as part of the [[Dot-com bubble|dot-com]] recession, compounded by accounting scandals. Case announced his resignation as chairman in January 2003, although he remained on the company's [[board of directors]] for almost three more years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/44394858/Steve-Case|title= Steve Case's Last Stand|access-date= June 14, 2011}}</ref>

The failure of the AOL-Time Warner merger is the subject of a book by [[Nina Munk]] entitled ''Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner'' (2005). A photo of Case and [[Time Warner]]'s [[Gerald Levin|Jerry Levin]] embracing at the announcement of the merger appears on the cover.

In 2005, Case wrote in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' that "It's now my view that it would be best to 'undo' the merger by splitting Time Warner into several independent companies and allowing AOL to set off on its own path."<ref>{{cite news|title=AOL founder calls for breakup of Time Warner|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/business/251800_aol13.html|date=December 13, 2005|publisher=Bloomberg via Seattle Post-Intelligencer|access-date=December 1, 2007}}</ref>

[[Image:Ray Chambers, Bill Clinton, Jean Case, Steve Case and Laura Bush at President Bill Clinton's Annual Global Initiative Conference in New York, September 20, 2006.jpg|thumb|left|[[Laura Bush]] announces a $60 million partnership between the U.S. Government and the [[Case Foundation]] at the [[Clinton Global Initiative]] conference in New York on September 20, 2006. With her, from left, are: Raymond Chambers, Chairman, MCJ and Amelier Foundations; former President [[Bill Clinton]]; and [[Jean Case]] and Steve Case.]]

Case resigned from the Time-Warner board of directors in October 2005, to spend more time working on [[Revolution LLC]], a D.C.-based investment firm he founded in April 2005. Revolution and its related funds have invested in more than 200 companies. Revolution has committed to investing a majority of its capital outside Silicon Valley<ref name="Business Insider">{{cite web | url=http://www.businessinsider.com/200m-for-startups-not-in-the-valley-2013-9 | title=Steve Case's Fund Will Invest $200 Million On Startups Outside Of Silicon Valley| website=[[Business Insider]]| access-date=September 3, 2013}}</ref>

He is also chairman of the [[Case Foundation]], which he and his wife [[Jean Case]] created in 1997. In 2011, Steve and Jean Case were honored as Citizens of the Year by the [[National Conference on Citizenship]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJ8vrP5224 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/JIJ8vrP5224| archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Jean and Steve Case recognized at Citizens of the Year at the Civic Innovators Forum|access-date= September 22, 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and interviewed by [[Stephanie Strom]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' about their record of service and philanthropic endeavors. The Case Foundation also created the Impact Investing Network Map, to track transactions between investors and startups that are socially-conscious.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Steve Case |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/steve-case/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

In 1999, Case received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]. His award was presented by Awards Council member [[Jim Kimsey]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}}</ref> Case was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2011, he was appointed as a Citizen Regent of the [[Smithsonian Institution]], and [https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/steve-case-elected-chair-smithsonian-board-regents became Chair of the Regents in 2020].<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web | url=http://www.si.edu/Regents/members.htm | title=About Smithsonian: Regent Members | publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] | access-date=May 14, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429070003/http://www.si.edu/Regents/members.htm | archive-date=April 29, 2011 }}</ref> Case was a co-chair of the Democracy Project at the [[Bipartisan Policy Center]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/projects/democracy-project|title=Governance - Bipartisan Policy Center|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610173655/http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/projects/democracy-project|archive-date=June 10, 2011}}</ref> In May 2014, Case received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from [[Georgetown University]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.georgetown.edu/hoyas2014/speakers.html |title= Georgetown Announces Speakers for 2014 Commencement |date= May 1, 2014 |work= Georgetown University |access-date= May 1, 2014 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140502033259/http://www.georgetown.edu/hoyas2014/speakers.html |archive-date= May 2, 2014 }}</ref>