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Online consort AOL Inc. is purchase online programme hub Huffington Post in a $315 meg care that represents a bold look on the forthcoming of online news.

The acquisition declared primeval Monday puts a high-profile vocalization evaluation on a series of acquisitions and strategic moves engineered by AOL CEO Tim jazzman in an try to form a fallen Internet icon. AOL was erst the power of dial-up online admittance famous for its present CD-ROMs and "You've got mail" acknowledgement in its inboxes.

Perhaps meet as important as picking up a programme site and ranks as digit of the crowning 10 underway events and orbicular programme sites, AOL module be adding Huffington Post co-founder and media star Arianna Huffington to its direction team as conception of the deal.

After the acquisition closes after this year, Huffington module be place in charge of AOL's ontogeny clothing of content, which includes popular technology sites Endgadget and TechCrunch, local programme sites Patch.com and online mapping service Mapquest.

The toll that AOL is paying is "really meet the hiring fee to intend Arianna," said technology analyst Rob Enderle. "This is digit of those out-of-left-field moves that actually makes a aggregation of sense. This could place AOL backwards on the map."

Armstrong, a former Google Inc. executive, has been disagreeable to turn AOL into a go-to place for a wide difference of programme since he was hired to turn around the consort in Apr 2009 while it was ease a conception of Time filmmaker Inc. The makeover is designed to give Web surfers a reason to meet AOL's websites more ofttimes to help increase online ad sales.

At the aforementioned time, jazzman has ordered soured hundreds of employees in an try to increase AOL's financial action and hit price. It has been a plod so far. AOL forfeited $782.5 meg terminal year, largely because of business charges, and the company's hit is today worth slightly inferior than after it was spun out of Time filmmaker 14 months ago.

The care "will create a next-generation dweller media consort with orbicular reach that combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers," jazzman said in a evidence announcing the deal.

Founded in 2005, Huffington Post is owned by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer and a assemble of another investors. The site attracts 25 meg monthly visitors. AOL module clear $300 meg of the purchase toll in cash.

Putting Arianna Huffington into a function of power could eventually threaten Armstrong's employ section if AOL ease struggles, Enderle said.

"This is a plucky advise (Armstrong's) conception because Arianna could modify up streaming AOL," Enderle said.

In a journal post most the deal, Arianna Huffington praised Armstrong's vision for AOL and said they were on the aforementioned tender as they discussed their ambitions for online news. "We were practically closing apiece other's sentences," Huffington wrote most their discussions. She wrote that the care was signed at the Super Bowl in Dallas, which she and jazzman attended.

If it wins expected regulatory support without some hitches, the care module likely near in late March or primeval April.

Armstrong has been an aggressive care concern since his arrival, but this marks by farther the large acquisition of his tenure. Various publicised reports quoting unidentified grouping hit also said he has talked to private equity firms most the possibility of disagreeable to buy character Inc., another struggling Internet originator that relic a home name. character CEO Carol Bartz, though, has shown lowercase interest in working with AOL.

AOL had meet a 5.3 proportionality share of the U.S. display advertising income in 2010, downbound from 6.8 proportionality in 2009, according to eMarketer. Facebook, meanwhile, accounted for 13.6 proportionality of display income terminal year, up from 7.3 proportionality in 2009.

Huffington Post grew apace from startup to online giant and ranks as digit of the crowning 10 underway events and orbicular programme sites. Over time, it launched city-specific pages and matured a roster of sections such as matter and books. The impact of its 70-person paid body is augmented by noesis from programme outlets and 6,000 bloggers who write for free.

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