Editor's Note: This was an April Fool's joke. The scary thing was that a lot of people took us at our word, without even checking the links, which would have revealed the article as what it was: disinformation.

For Immediate Release:

The Disinformation Company Ltd Acquired by AOL Time Warner Inc

AOL Time Warner gets a high-profile site and access to core research on lucrative markets and emerging trends; The Disinformation Company Ltd gets access to scalable information capital and AOL's future multimedia initiatives.

New York City, NY -- April 1. The Disinformation Company Ltd, creators of Disinformation, the award-winning subculture search-engine, have "sold out" again. Just don't call it the end of another Internet era.

In a surprise move that has already sent shockwaves through the Entertainment Economy, Disinformation Company Ltd publisher Gary Baddeley and creative director Richard Metzger have joined forces with their nemesis, AOL Time Warner, after months of secret negotiations. The media pranksters waited until April Fool's Day to make their ironic announcement, which confused Disinfonauts, the company's name for site visitors and their most valued customers.

"The acquisition will define conspiracy chic in the post-X-Files media landscape," said Richard Metzger. "Jello Biafra once said that you should not hate the media, but instead become the media. If this deal doesn't show how to become the media, I don't know what will!"

"Our content has always been credible," said Alex Burns, Disinformation's current editor. "Our acquisition by AOL Time Warner will not change our unique editorial voice. We have sometimes faced a hostile audience who have valued highbrow intellectual credibility and restrictive cafe culture over rational pragmatism. I'm sick of hearing about faux-utopian visions of what editing a site should be like, from the likes of Salon, Feed Magazine, or those know-alls at American Journalism Review. As R.U. Sirius said to CTheory: 'Anybody who doesn't factor a need to pay rent and to have pleasures into whatever expectations they have of anybody else can go fuck.' Like Sirius, I hate expectations of any kind."

When asked if he had any expectation of remaining as editor after the corporate blood-letting that occurs after most mergers and acquisitions, Burns quipped, "Have you read John Seabrook's book about what happened when Tina Brown took over The New Yorker? Don't hold your breath."

"The AOL Time Warner acquisition gives us access to their digital television and publishing resources," Disinformation Company Ltd publisher Gary Baddeley claimed. "This will enable us to expand our future service offerings, including more e-commerce initiatives, the acclaimed Disinfo Nation television series and our Disinfo Books imprint, which began with You Are Being Lied To. AOL Time Warner's resources will enhance our strategic alliances, such as a content deal with Electronic Arts for their riveting game Majestic."

"The acquisition of The Disinformation Company Ltd means that AOL Time Warner will now have access to the media fluxes and flows that unfocused media conglomerates often miss," AOL Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin concurred. "This is crucial for AOL Time Warner's knowledge management and scenario planning objectives. The acquisition also enhances AOL Time Warner's integrity, diversity and social responsibility through Disinformation's holonic editing methodology, which is still under research with models adapted from The National Values Center Inc and Integral Institute. AOL Time Warner will embed Disinformation's advanced research into viral marketing into our demographic and psychographic tools. New and more profitable markets are beckoning.

"Disinformation also captures the sardonic wit and asperspectival views by which Generation X and the Millennials (the generation born after 1982) examine society. AOL Time Warner's management hopes that our revamping of the Disinformation site will appeal to media and communications students who idolize propaganda theorists like Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn, and corporate oligarchists like Ben Badikian."

Financial and media analysts responded warmly to the acquisition, foreshadowing an expected slight rise in AOL Time Warner's stock price, which closed minus 1.47% on Friday. The Disinformation Company Ltd was purchased by AOL Time Warner for an undisclosed six-figure sum, reflecting the devaluation of tech stocks and resources since the Dotcom Crash of April 2000.

"The Disinformation Company Ltd captured the media's gaze by creating the Great Internet Swindle, which became a compelling founders' story. Creative director Richard Metzger has become a noted commentator on Apocalypse Culture," noted Basil Zaharoff of Innsmouth Investments. "They avoided the excessive burn-rates of companies such as Pseudo and Pop. Through a combination of guerilla marketing and scouting for new talent, they created a fresh and provocative voice. The acquisition is clearly in response to the growing popularity of sites such as Jim Romenesko's Media News and Russ Kick's Alternewswire, and the percieved threat of value migration from the highly publicized Automatic Media Inc merger. AOL Time Warner gets a high-profile site and access to core research on lucrative markets and emerging trends; The Disinformation Company Ltd gets access to scalable information capital and AOL's future multimedia initiatives. The acquisition also comes just in time for this year's Webby Awards."

About AOL Time Warner Inc:

AOL Time Warner Inc is the world's first fully integrated media and communications company for the Internet Century. With an unsurpassed combination of the world's most trusted brands, unparalleled Internet expertise, a rich tradition of journalistic integrity and creative energy, and experienced, focused management, AOL Time Warner is poised to lead the next Internet Revolution . . . and to help spread the benefits of that revolution to people and communities around the world.

About The Disinformation Company Ltd:

The Disinformation Company Ltd packages intellectual capital for individuals looking for information on current affairs, politics, new science and the 'hidden information' that seldom seems to slip through the cracks of the corporate-owned media conglomerates.

For More Disinformation:

For more press information please contact Wendy Tremayne at Green Galactic, 718-923-9020.

The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.