In a somewhat surprising move, Steve Case reverses his previous key role in the Time Warner - AOL merger fiasco in this Washington Post article:

Although I played a key role in bringing AOL and Time Warner together six years ago, 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.

Steve raises some great points about how the merger failed to materialize any significant synergies, and how AOL needs to compete effectively in this new wave of Internet growth by reducing the bureaucracy associated with a conglomerate.

However, I couldn’t help but smile at one of the reasons why he thinks AOL should be a separate company again:

— the same approach that AOL employed in the 1990s when it acquired upstarts like ICQ and Mapquest.

… I guess he forgot to say that if AOL were independent, it could then use its own inflated stock to buy Time Warner all over again

Note: for more info on the spectacular downfall of the “biggest merger in history” check out this PBS report