It was to try to digitize, or merge the print and movie media with the internet. Levin was dumb enough to think AOL and the internet were synonymous, when the internet had actually already left AOL behind.
God rest his soul, I should have said there at the end of my post. The article did make it sound as if he was truly sorry for the catastrophe he caused, but I remember there were plenty of people questioning it at the time.