Who's laughing now?

AOL has long been considered a has-been in the tech world, getting surpassed by hot young things like Groupon, Zynga and Facebook.

But, if you had a chance to buy a share in any one of these companies at the start of the year, your best investment would have been AOL. And, as you can see in this chart, it's not even close.

Year to date, AOL is up 82%. Zynga is down 44%. Groupon is down 48%. Facebook is down 28%.

This is the great thing about being a public company. You can't hide. The market sees what you're doing and it renders a judgement.

Amazingly, in 2012, the market thinks AOL is a better company than Facebook, Zynga, or Groupon.

Via: Eric Jackson

UPDATE: A few commenters are saying that AOL's hot stock is all because of the fact that it sold patents for $1 billion and juiced the stock price. To that, we say, "so what?" That's the point. AOL's management made a smart decision. Zynga made a big deal this year, buying OMGPOP. Investors didn't like that move! AOL's management has done a good job navigating the choppy public waters. These young whippersnappers should take notes.