>Microsoft trumps Amazon, others for AOL patents
By Nadia Damouni and Jennifer Saba
Mon Apr 9, 2012 4:43pm EDT
(Reuters) – Microsoft trumped Amazon, eBay and other tech giants with its more than $1 billion purchase of the majority of AOL Inc’s patent trove.
AOL said it was selling more than 800 patents related to advertising, search, e-commerce and mobile to Redmond, Wash-based company, surprising investors with the size of the deal and sending AOL shares up more than 40 percent.
The sale includes technology rights from AOL’s current and former businesses, ranging from Netscape, ICQ and MapQuest to CompuServe, Advertising.com and others, according to a source close to the matter.
The sale process, which AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong described as a “full-blown dynamic auction,” started last fall after board approval.
https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/09/us-aol-microsoft-idUSBRE83809X20120409