The day after the launch, Gates and his family were the only visitors, Gates joked.

But by March 2000 the site had tens of thousands of visitors a day and $3 million in venture capital funding.

Before the acquisition, 51 percent of company was held by Harvard Square Netcasting, a company owned by Gates and Appiah along with entertainer Quincy Jones, former Education School professor Harry Lasker and media executive Martin Payson.

According to Gates, the flirtation with Time Warner began at a celebration marking the Afro-American studies department's 30th anniversary in last March, which Levin attended to endow a professorship named for Jones.

Personal links tied Time Warner to Africana.com even before the purchase. Gates and Levin have known each other for more than 10 years and Payson was formerly vice chair of the company.

The Time Warner deal was a Gates production down to the details. He personally negotiated the terms in late June and early July.

Lawyers drew up the final agreements over the summer, and the owners signed the contract on August 24. Gates, who was in the hospital for his second hip surgery, signed from his bed.

"It's a fantasy for me," said Gates. "It's unbelievable. We took a very good idea that was destined never to be popular and a multinational corporation--two multinational corporations--decided, because of the value of the content, that it was worth incorporated into the corporations."