>When Verizon bought AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion, the company called AOL “a digital trailblazer.” Lowell C. McAdam, Verizon’s chief executive at the time, championed the deal as part of its “strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers to deliver that premium experience.” > It was all in the pursuit of almighty “scale,” a business term of art that has almost become a religious mantra in Silicon Valley. The goal was to build a bigger audience to sell more advertising. But the internet’s economics had already shifted years before, and content that users provided free, whether in the form of Facebook posts or YouTube videos, drove much online activity. AOL and Yahoo, despite their big audiences, had become distant also-rans. >Verizon still saw value in Yahoo and AOL. The idea was to give Verizon customers content they couldn’t get elsewhere at a time when all cellphone service offerings were essentially the same. And AOL’s giant ad-tech business could give Verizon a better way to sell advertising on its phones. > Apollo has been on a buying spree in the past few months, announcing deals to acquire Michaels, the chain of crafting stores, and the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas. It has also had a shake-up in its senior ranks, with its co-founder Leon Black stepping down as chairman in March after the revelation he had paid more than $150 million to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Wat.