Google Sells AOL Stock

Search Engine Land have reported that Google have sold its 5% stake in AOL back to AOL itself for $283 million. The original purchase by Google was for $1 billion, which shows a large drop in AOL’s value. See below for a quote from Search Engine Land:

“In anticipation of a spin off/IPO for AOL, TimeWarner bought back Google’s 5 percent interest in the company for $283 million dollars. Google originally purchased the equity stake in AOL in 2005 to preserve its search relationship with its largest partner and fend of Microsoft, which was seeking a potential deal with or acquisition of AOL.

The original Google investment was $1 billion, which valued the TimeWarner AOL unit at $20 billion. The current valuation of AOL, based on the share buy back, would be roughly $5.6 billion….”

Read the rest here.