✨ We've just launched our NEW website design!

Learn More Here
News

AOL Being Bought for $4.4 Billion by Verizon

Verizon AOL

Verizon is moving into the content and media business with its planned purchase of AOL. If regulators approve the $4.4 billion USD deal, Verizon will join the likes of Comcast which is not only a telecommunications giant but also a major media conglomerate.

The acquisition would involve the entirety of AOL becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. Of course, the purchase includes the old dial-up internet service with 2 million customers that AOL is famous for. This will net Verizon about $168 million in revenue a year. Other noteworthy mentioned include The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Engadget, MAKERS, AOL.com and AOL’s advertising network. AOL is expected to operate independently of Verizon at least in the short-term and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong will stay on.

One major hurdle being faced by Verizon and AOL is regulatory approval. On one hand, an approval has precedence. Comcast was able to move ahead with its acquisition of NBC after the previous Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman gave approval. However, the regulatory landscape has changed with new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler who recently implemented Net Neutrality rules which aim to prevent companies from using their monopoly to leverage advantages. What is likely to happen is that the FCC will grant approval but with some rules that Verizon will have to follow regarding AOL.

While purchasing AOL’s dial-up service sort of makes sense, it will be interesting to see how Verizon will make use of their media and content acquisitions. Both consumers and the FCC will be sure to watch the acquisition carefully to guess if Verizon will abuse its new position as a media outlet.

Samuel Wan

Samuel joined eTeknix in 2015 after becoming engrossed in technology and PC hardware. With his passion for gaming and hardware, tech writing was the logical step to share the latest news with the world. When he’s not busy dreaming about the latest hardware, he enjoys gaming, music, camping and reading.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker!   eTeknix prides itself on supplying the most accurate and informative PC and tech related news and reviews and this is made possible by advertisements but be rest assured that we will never serve pop ups, self playing audio ads or any form of ad that tracks your information as your data security is as important to us as it is to you.   If you want to help support us further you can over on our Patreon!   Thank you for visiting eTeknix