Verizon to Acquire AOL in a $4.4 Billion Deal Expected to Close in Summer 2015

Verizon has announced a deal to acquire AOL for $4.4 billion, and is expected to close on the sale in Summer 2015 pending regulatory approvals. Under the new deal, AOL and its various properties, including The Huffington Post and TechCrunch, will be wholly owned subsidiaries of Verizon, and current AOL CEO Tim Armstrong will stay on to manage all AOL operations.

In both the official press release and an internal memo sent to AOL employees by Armstrong, the main focus of the deal is said to be combining AOL’s existing content and marketing platforms with Verizon’s mobile and over-the-top video platforms.

AOL is a leader in the digital content and advertising platforms space, and the combination of Verizon and AOL creates a scaled, mobile-first platform offering directly targeted at what eMarketer estimates is a nearly $600 billion global advertising industry. AOL’s key assets include its subscription business; its premium portfolio of global content brands, including The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Engadget, MAKERS and AOL.com, as well as its millennial-focused OTT, Emmy-nominated original video content; and its programmatic advertising platforms.

image via Wikimedia Commons