Am I just getting old?

When I reported today over at B2BNN that Verizon acquired AOL for $4.4 billion, I immediately had memories of the iconic “you’ve got mail” and the infancy days of the Internet. I’m just 27, but I still remember how big dial-up Internet and AOL were (you could buy 120 hours of Internet for $20). I remember AOL bought CompuServ, it purchased ICQ, it added Netscape to its arsenal and it merged with Time Warner, which was huge news in the world of business, tech and professional wrestling.

Since then, however, AOL hasn’t really been a dominant force in the tech landscape, at least not like Google, Apple or Facebook. For the average person, AOL is an irrelevant brand. It’s like MySpace to many of my peers.

Nevertheless, this news was big and will likely garner headlines throughout the rest of the week. Here is a bit of an excerpt from my latest news piece:

Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., announced Tuesday it will be acquiring AOL in a landmark $4.4 billion deal.

The all-cash deal will see Verizon pay $50 per share for AOL, which is 17 percent more than what its stock closed on Monday at $42.59.

The move will allow Verizon to become the largest provider of content and video for the web and mobile phones, while also boosting its digital advertising efforts. Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO, said in a statement that the purchase will expand its wireless and over-the-top (OTT) video strategies.

With more than 130 million subscribers and 1.5 billion connected mobile devices, Verizon maintains an enormous network to create and distribute mobile content. Although it has in the past produced various entertainment content, like providing NFL games on mobile devices, this is the first time that Verizon has made any substantial acquisitions to expand these offerings.