Verizon Communications to buy AOL for $4.4 billion

Verizon Communications announced on Tuesday it will buy AOL for $4.4 billion in cash. The deal values AOL shares at $50 each, a 17.4 percent premium to Monday’s closing price.The acquisition gives Verizon access to AOL’s video ad-serving business Adap.tv and content such as Huffington Post.Verizon has 5.7 million video subscribers, who are cable of streaming television content to mobile devices.Video and programmatic advertising is a growth area for AOL, helping to push ad revenue 7.2 percent to $625.1 million in the first quarter.In 2013, AOL bought Adap.tv for $405 million. Last year, Yahoo bought video ad-serving platform Brightroll for $640 million. While Facebook purchased Liverail for a reported US$500 million.