Verizon to buy AOL for $4.4 billion

It looks like Verizon is set to buy out AOL for $4.4 billion, putting the company in control of all AOL businesses, including several news outlets such as The Huffington Post, Engadget, Tech Crunch along with AOL.com. Joystiq would have been included in the list but AOL chose to shut down the site a few months ago.

AOL also still has its dial-up Internet service running, which has 2.1 million subscribers, which alone is worth $180 million per quarter, though that number is declining. That's 2.1 million potential Verizon subscribers that the company could win over.

This would be Verizon's second biggest acquisition, following the buyout of Vodafone for $130 billion. Rumors surrounding Verizon buying out AOL began circulating earlier this year but back in January, the company's CEO denied the rumors and suggested that other media companies be considered instead.

Once bought out, AOL will retain its CEO and Chairman, Tim Armstrong. According to the internal company memo, AOL will still operate as normal, although it will now be a division of Verizon rather than its own thing. The Verge managed to get a hold of the full internal memo explaining what will happen after AOL merges with Verizon. You can read it, HERE. 

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KitGuru Says: Verizon will have control of several large tech news outlets following this move, which could potentially play a role in the company's fight against Net Neutrality. 

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