AOL Agrees to Buy Huffington Post for $315 Million

AOL is getting into serious game. What with purchasing all leading new media.The company has just announced that it has purchased one of the world’s most respected blogs, Huffington Post for a fee of $315 Million. AOL also owns Engadget, Techcrunch, Patch.Com and mapquest . The company has been on a spending spree and the big suprise is the acquisition of Huffington Post.

According to The New York Times, the deal is reportedly worth a whooping $300 million in cash and $15 million in stock /shares.

The deal will see Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington become president and editor-in-chief of all of AOL’s content. She will be in-charge of the newly created Huffington Post Media Group. Under the new media group will be MapQuest, AOL Latino, Black Voices, AOL Music, AutoBlog, Patch, Engadget and TechCrunch.

“The acquisition of The Huffington Post will create a next-generation American media company with global reach that combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers,” said Tim Armstrong, chairman and CEO of AOL. “Together, our companies will embrace the digital future and become a digital destination that delivers unmatched experiences for both consumers and advertisers.” according to AFP

AOL says that the whole media group has a reach of  117 million unique visitors/month in the U.S.A. and more than 270 million/month worldwide. The board of directors of both companies have approved the transaction but the US government is yet to approve it.