Home
Internet
Internet News
Microsoft to buy 800 patents from AOL for $1 billion

Microsoft to buy 800 patents from AOL for $1 billion

By Associated Press | Updated: 5 June 2012 16:00 IST

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

AOL has agreed to sell 800 patents and related applications to Microsoft and grant it a license for its remaining patents.

AOL said Monday that it has agreed to sell 800 of its patents and their related applications to Microsoft and grant it a license for its remaining patents for a total about $1.06 billion in cash.

New York-based AOL Inc. said it plans to return some of the sale proceeds to its shareholders.

The company's shares jumped $6.46, or 35 percent, to $24.77 in premarket trading. Microsoft shares slipped 22 cents to $31.30.

After the sale, AOL said it will still hold over 300 patents and applications covering a variety of core and strategic technologies including advertising, search, content generation, social networking, mapping, multimedia, and security among others.

AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp.

Tim Armstrong, AOL's chairman and chief executive, said the deal with Microsoft resulted from a "robust" auction of the company's patents. He said the company's license agreement with Microsoft shows that it still holds a valuable patent portfolio.

"The combined sale and licensing arrangement unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value," Amstrong said in a statement.

AOL said it will determine the best way to distribute a "significant portion" of the sale proceeds to shareholders before the sale closes, which is expected to happen by the end of this year.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Further reading: AOL, Microsoft, Tim Armstrong

Microsoft to buy 800 patents from AOL for $1 billion

Related Stories