Time Warner gets ready to spin off AOL

Jake Widman
Wednesday, 29 July 2009 06:29

Your IT - Home IT

Google originally paid $1 billion for its share of AOL.

That figure would give a value for AOL in 2005 of $20 billion.

Now Time Warner has bought Google's five percent back for $283 million, according to the filing with the SEC.

That means AOL is now worth about $5.7 billion, and that Google lost $717 million on the deal.

Reuters quotes Brigantine Advisors analyst Colin Gillis as calling the $5.7 billion figure a "floor valuation" and saying that "it shouldn't be anything lower than that."

AOL has said that it already incurred $58.3 million in restructuring charges this year and plans to incur up to $90 million more before the deal is completed.