• silicon.com
• Technology
• Mobile

By Jo Best, 17 December 2003 15:00

NEWS Japan's largest mobile operator and a subsidiary of the world's largest media outfit are readying themselves to announce the end of their beautiful friendship.

The two – NTT DoCoMo and AOL – had formed an alliance to help each other break new markets in their respective home territories. The union was cemented in 2002 when the Japanese giant paid $100m for 42.3 per cent share, in the form of around 21,000 shares, in AOL's Japanese arm – innovatively titled AOL DoCoMo.

Unfortunately for DoCoMo, the partnership didn't work out and it's now planning to sell the stake back to AOL's parent company. While the companies are keeping tight-lipped about when the sale will go through and how much it will cost DoCoMo to get rid of its AOL baggage, it is expected the Japanese giant will only get back a fraction of what it paid.

The deal is thought to have gone sour as a result of AOL's decline in fortunes over recent times, with subscriber numbers dwindling and the company forced to make job cuts. Despite the Japanese mobile operator's huge user numbers and the selection of AOL as its preferred ISP as well as the introduction of AOL's IM, AOL failed to make a splash in the market and has attracted relatively poor numbers of subscribers.