Did I miss something?

One day, America Online is this Internet anachronism, stuck in a bygone dial-up era when the world has gone broadband. Now suddenly it's this tech stud muffin being pursued by Google, Comcast, Microsoft and Yahoo. They're all reportedly vying for a minority stake in AOL that could go for $5 billion.

So, what gives?

Here's what we tech elitists, who have long disdained AOL as the Internet for idiots, have overlooked. There's no question that AOL's traditional Internet dial-up business is shriveling. But it's still wildly profitable, raking in more than a billion dollars in profit last year, even as it loses subscribers at a rate of 2 million a year.

There's more to AOL than Internet access. It operates a network of free sites -- including AOL.com, Mapquest, Moviefone and Netscape -- that attracted 111.8 million visitors in September, according to comScore Media Metrix. In fact, it boasts the second-largest audience on the Net (behind only Yahoo).

That many eyeballs, needless to say, attract the attention of advertisers. AOL's network ranks third in online ad revenue and is on pace to collect $1.2 billion this year. It's clearly a grabber for Google and Yahoo, whose bottom line is dependent on advertising.

AOL's charms are more than ad-revenue deep.

It has proven itself adept in creating compelling online programming. Media watchers consider AOL Music's Live 8 coverage in July from London, Philadelphia, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Toronto a watershed event. It embarrassed "old" media, MTV and VH1, with its simultaneous live broadcasts from all six principal stages at the worldwide series of concerts to raise aid for Africa. If you happened to miss a performance in Paris while you were watching something in Toronto, you could search for it and watch it later for free.

Feeling punked, MTV?

AOL also has a sizable and searchable vault of 15,000 music, movie, television, sports and news videos. Before long, sources say, you also will be able to find and watch MTV video clips and other television shows that attract a loyal following but will never make it to DVD. The only company that comes close to this kind of archive is Yahoo.

To paraphrase the credit card commercial, membership (in a giant media conglomerate such as Time Warner) has its privileges.

None of these developments has escaped the notice of the Internet's other major players -- Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Microsoft would like nothing better than to take AOL's search business away from Google. So it started talks about a possible joint venture earlier this year.

Then Google and Comcast reportedly teamed up and approached parent Time Warner last week about taking a stake in AOL.

It's partly a defensive move by Google, which provides both search and paid listings for AOL's sprawling network. That deal gives Google 11 percent of its revenue. It would hate to lose out to its Redmond, Wash., nemesis.

But a deal also would improve the Mountain View search titan's connections with Hollywood, helping it broaden the reach of its video search.

Comcast, meanwhile, is doubtless enticed by AOL's 20.8 million dial-up customers -- although there are conflicting accounts of whether this part of the business is up for grabs. Who better to convert to high-speed Internet access than a group of folks who refer to the Web as the world-wide-wait? AOL could only persuade about a quarter of its dial-up customers to go broadband.

Yahoo, headed by former Warner Bros. studio chief Terry Semel, is also reportedly interested in AOL -- to augment its extensive online entertainment offerings and ad revenue, and, not coincidentally, keep it out of the hands of Google.

Time Warner has its own shareholders to appease -- most notably activist investor Carl Icahn, who has been agitating for the conglomerate to boost its stagnant share price.

Who knew that a dial-up company could be so sexy?