Breaking: Verizon to buy AOL for $4.4 billion

[Joe Rossignol]

Verizon to buy AOL for $4.4 billion, which includes TechCrunch, Engadget and The Huffington Post on media side.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102670331

 

[MacDawg]

I had no idea AOL still existed ツ

 

[ucfgrad93]

I had no idea AOL still existed ツ

Or that it would be worth that much.

 

[JackieInCo]

I had no idea AOL still existed ツ

it's not THAT AOL. They get Engadget, Huffington Post and other sites plus they get the video tech they want to start their own video service.

 

[MacNut]

Verizon over pays for AOL by 4.4 billion.

This just seems like a really stupid deal for Verizon.

Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) said on Tuesday it will buy AOL Inc (AOL.N) for $4.4 billion, turning the biggest U.S. wireless carrier into a leading provider of content and video for the web and mobile phones.

The $50-per-share offer represents a premium of 17.4 percent to AOL's Monday close. AOL and its properties, including the Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget websites, would become a Verizon subsidiary, with AOL Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong staying in his role.

Armstrong, who has been trying to build up AOL's expertise in mobile advertising technology, sees mobile representing 80 percent of media consumption in coming years.

"If we are going to lead, we need to lead in mobile," Armstrong said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

Verizon has over 100 million mobile consumers, content deals with the likes of the National Football League and "a meaningful strategy" in mobile video, Armstrong said.

For Wall Street, the deal is about the technology.

"The primary attraction of AOL was the technology it has developed for selling ads and delivering online and mobile video," Wells Fargo Securities analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a note.

AOL shares jumped 19 percent to $50.69, while Dow component Verizon was down 0.5 percent at $49.51.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/12/us-aol-m-a-verizon-commn-idUSKBN0NX18820150512

 

[aaronvan]

HuffPo is a great acquisition since they pay their writers NOTHING.

 

[MacNut]

HuffPo is a great acquisition since they pay their writers NOTHING.

I was unaware they had writers, I thought all of their content was copy pasted from elsewhere.