A week is a long time on the web. Just look at shares in America Online.
Days after one of the biggest and most sustained sell-offs of internet stock ever experience by the New York and London markets, the US's largest internet service provider announced it was swallowing up one of the great leviathans of traditional media. The currency? AOL shares.
It may seem inconceivable but for the two protagonists it made compelling sense.
Together AOL and TW give rise to a formidable combination of internet "eyeballs" and content. The take-over brings together two companies with premium quality paper, premium quality management in AOL's Steve Case and TW's Gerald Levine and two premium revenue streams.
In strategic terms AOL acquires a diversified media company with widespread content including film, television and publishing, plus a major cable television subsidiary. TW gets a ready-made internet strategy. But will other companies be able to find such strong and complementary partners?
It is unlikely, although they certainly will not tire of looking. There are not many AOLs. Most European internet service providers have premium paper but neither management depth nor revenues, let alone profits.
Individual companies' chances of success depend very much on who they chose to partner. Every deal will be different. For AOL and TW content was not king. AOL has emerged as the dominant shareholder but in other cases it could be the access provider that is eaten.
For nationally leading inter net service providers like Freeserve, Terra Networks and Thus yesterday's news should be a good thing. AOL's all-share offer has ratified the value of internet paper in the world beyond virtual business. If media companies approach Freeserve in an attempt to ape what has taken place on the other side of the Atlantic, Freeserve should be in a position to bargain hard for the eyeballs it represents.
Much will turn on whether a bidder attaches more weight to Freeserve's market share as an ISP - 35% according to the most recent figures - or the site's attractiveness as a portal, where it is able to attract fewer than 15% of the UK's "unique site visitors". If a content provider approached Freeserve, the more bullish ISP figure would probably be more relevant. In a bidding war Freeserve's price should benefit. Based on Freeserve's interim figures WestLB Panmure values its shares at £2. In light of the AOL-TW deal we can see them rising to £6.
Alliances between content and access are likely to be theme for the next couple of months, with a flurry of rumours and deals. Expect incumbent telcos like Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia to speed up their plans to spin off their internet subsidiaries as soon as possible to capitalise on their paper value.
Language will also be a complication, exposing UK players, more than their continental rivals, to US-driven forces.
For those who strike deals there are good prospects but it could leave public service bodies like the BBC or Channel 4, which have no equity facility to trade, in an unsustainable position.
Miles Saltiel is head of technology research at WestLB Panmure.
