Verizon announced this morning that it will acquire AOL for $4.4 billion. Hopefully, it works out better than the marriage of AOL to Time Warner.
Verizon said that it will purchase AOL at $50 per share, which totals to $4.4 billion. The deal will help Verizon build its own content library for customers and will help Verizon’s IOT (Internet of Things) platforms grow.
“Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform,” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said. “This acquisition supports our strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers to deliver that premium customer experience.”
AOL chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong will stay with the company to oversee AOL operations after the deal becomes official.
“Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform,” Armstrong added. “This acquisition supports our strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers to deliver that premium customer experience.”
While the glory days of AOL are over a decade in the past, the company has attempted to rebrand itself as an Internet network, owning sites like The Huffington Post, AOL.com, TechCrunch and Endgadget. The company also produces OTT (over the top) content and makes an estimated $600 billion ad revenue.
The AOL name is still best associated with the dial-up internet service of the ‘90s. In 2000, the company merged with media giant Time Warner, but that was considered one of the biggest mistakes in American corporate history. By 2009, Time Warner spun off AOL as a separate company.
image from Verizon.com