It's not crap. It's the most popular IM service in Russia and a whole bunch of other countries. I use it daily to talk to friends and business colleagues in Europe, and ICQ is the only service they use (although more technologically-oriented use Skype)
When a lot of people are using something it does not prove that it is not a crap.
PHP is the best example. =)
Investors are not benevolent technology incubators. They need returns on their money, and the quality of the software side of ICQ is largerly irrelevant here.
AOL should be very happy (and surprised) to get rid of that old crap.