Internet pioneer: Bending Spoons from Italy now also takes over AOL
Bending Spoons' shopping spree continues, the Italian company is now also buying AOL. The website and mail provider are being taken over.
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The Italian company Bending Spoons is buying AOL from Yahoo, thus taking over its most well-known internet brand to date. The purchase includes the website aol.com and the email provider of the same name, it says in a statement from the group. If the responsible competition authorities approve, the deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Both sides did not disclose the purchase price, but Bending Spoons states that it has successfully completed a debt financing package of 2.8 billion US dollars. AOL is a "legendary, beloved company that is in good shape," assures the future owner.
One of the world's largest mail providers
AOL has a eventful history behind it, but things have become quieter around the internet pioneer recently. In 2021, the company, along with Yahoo, was sold to US investor Apollo Global Management for well over four billion US dollars. They now believe they have significantly strengthened AOL with various measures, and AOL is now well-positioned for the next phase in the company's history. After eight years, the paths of Yahoo and AOL are now diverging again. The latter is still one of the ten largest email providers in the world, and the website reaches eight million users per day and 30 million per month, according to Bending Spoons' estimates.
Videos by heise
With this step, the Italian company continues its shopping spree; just a month ago, the acquisition of the video platform Vimeo was announced. Before that, the hiking app Komoot, the file sharing service WeTransfer, and the streaming software Streamyard were acquired. Since 2023, the note-taking application Evernote has belonged to the Italians. They have never sold a company they acquired again and look forward to serving AOL's large and loyal user base for many years to come, CEO Luca Ferrari explains explains. At Komoot, the company made it clear just a few weeks ago that acquired services are to be further developed.
(mho)
