Combination Accelerates AOL's Strategy to Create Next-Generation Media Company
New York, NY – March 7, 2011 – AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) announced today that it has closed its acquisition of The Huffington Post, the influential and rapidly growing news and opinion site with over 27 million unique monthly US visitors.*
AOL will integrate The Huffington Post with all AOL Media and AOL Local properties to create the Huffington Post Media Group, a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community, and digital information. Arianna Huffington will lead the overall editorial direction of the new group as President and Editor-in-Chief.
Through this acquisition, AOL is accelerating its strategy to deliver a scaled and differentiated array of premium news, analysis, and entertainment produced by thousands of writers, editors, reporters, and videographers around the globe. The combined entity will have a user base of 117 million unique visitors a month in the United States and 253 million around the world.**
About AOL
AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL's business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL's owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL's consumer offerings.