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AOL to buy Huffington Post in $315m media merger | AOL to buy Huffington Post in $315m media merger |
(about 9 hours later) | |
US internet firm AOL has agreed to a buyout of the Huffington Post online newspaper. | US internet firm AOL has agreed to a buyout of the Huffington Post online newspaper. |
The $315m (£222m) deal will create an internet media group with 270 million users, including 117 million in the US. | The $315m (£222m) deal will create an internet media group with 270 million users, including 117 million in the US. |
The purchase price - $300m of which will be in cash - will be paid to co-founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer and a few minority shareholders. | The purchase price - $300m of which will be in cash - will be paid to co-founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer and a few minority shareholders. |
Ms Huffington - currently editor of her namesake news service - will head the combined firm's content division. | Ms Huffington - currently editor of her namesake news service - will head the combined firm's content division. |
This means she will take on responsibility for AOL sites such as Engadget and Techcrunch, as well as retaining her current role at the intellectual centre-left website she helped set up in 2005. | This means she will take on responsibility for AOL sites such as Engadget and Techcrunch, as well as retaining her current role at the intellectual centre-left website she helped set up in 2005. |
"I want to stay forever," said Ms Huffington. "This will be my last act. The opportunities here are really endless. | |
"Far from changing our editorial approach, our culture, or our mission, this moment will be for HuffPost like stepping off a fast-moving train and onto a supersonic jet." | |
Advertising | Advertising |
AOL expects the purchase to help boost its flagging advertising revenues in a year that chief executive Tim Armstrong maintains will mark a turnaround for the company that divorced from Time Warner in 2009. | AOL expects the purchase to help boost its flagging advertising revenues in a year that chief executive Tim Armstrong maintains will mark a turnaround for the company that divorced from Time Warner in 2009. |
The Huffington Post is expected to contribute an additional 25 million users to the internet giant. | The Huffington Post is expected to contribute an additional 25 million users to the internet giant. |
"The combination of AOL's infrastructure and scale with the Huffington Post's pioneering approach to news and innovative community-building among a broad and sophisticated audience will mark a seminal moment in the evolution of digital journalism and online engagement," said the two companies in their statement. | "The combination of AOL's infrastructure and scale with the Huffington Post's pioneering approach to news and innovative community-building among a broad and sophisticated audience will mark a seminal moment in the evolution of digital journalism and online engagement," said the two companies in their statement. |
The transaction is expected to be completed in March or April and will need regulatory approval in the US. | The transaction is expected to be completed in March or April and will need regulatory approval in the US. |
AOL has endured a turbulent time since the onset of the global financial crisis. | |
As well as parting ways with Time Warner, last summer AOL sold Bebo for a fraction of the $850m (£417m at the time) it paid for the social networking site in 2008. |