ByIain Martin,
Forbes Staff.
AOL was the first destination on the internet for millions of Americans during the first dot com boom, and is still used by more than 30 million people every month. And now, it'll be owned by Italians.
Milan-based app developer Bending Spoons announced Wednesday it has agreed to buy AOL from private equity giant Apollo. It’s the latest in a buying spree where it’s snapped up a string of other aging American internet brands like Evernote, Meetup and Brightcove in recent years. Its latest acquisition is decades-older than its typical targets, and its biggest deals to date.
While Bending Spoons did not disclose the terms of the deal, the startup also announced it was raising $2.8 billion in debt to fund the transaction and future takeovers. Reuters had previously reported that the acquisition valued AOL at over $1.4 billion. “It's a pretty sizable business and a healthy business too,” Bending Spoons cofounder and CEO Luca Ferrari told Forbes. “AOL Mail is good but it could be better and we look forward to making investments in the underlying technology to make it faster, and more intuitive.”
