AOL’s secret ingredient

A-O-L. No three letters have been so synonymous with value destruction in the history of finance. But a small purchase by the much maligned Time Warner unit two years ago may help to dispel that notion. Advertising.com, which Time Warner acquired for $500m two years ago, looks to be playing a critical role in AOL’s transformation from a subscriber-driven model to a peddler of advertisements. Just as Google profits by selling search-related ads for thousands of third party web sites, Advertisi...