Patch's Parent AOL to Acquire Huffington Post

AOL, Patch's parent company, announced it has agreed to acquire The Huffington Post, a combination AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong said will create the premier global and local media company on the Internet.

Co-founded six years ago by Arianna Huffington and Ken Lerer, The Huffington Post has grown to become an industry leader—one of the Web’s most popular and innovative sources of online news, commentary, and information.

The two companies combined will focus on serving audiences across multiple platforms – social, local, video, mobile and tablet.

The combination of the two companies will create a scaled connection between global and local communities on one platform. This will create a new way for people to get local and global information in a timely and entertaining way.

The Huffington Post will join the family of AOL Brands that are destinations for an influencer audience, brands such as TechCrunch, Engadget, AutoBlog, and Moviefone. Uniquely, The Huffington Post is the platform for influential people -- the people that drive trends, commerce, politics, entertainment, news, and information.

This acquisition will create a digital atmosphere encompassing local, national and international news, politics, entertainment, technology, fashion, sports, health, personal finance, green, lifestyle, the arts and more. This deal will combine the talent at AOL with the innovative and talented staff of The Huffington Post.

A new group will be created at AOL called The Huffington Post Media Group. Within this group will be AOL Media, AOL Local & Mapping, AOL Search and staff at The Huffington Post. The towns structure, AOL.com and HuffingtonPost.com will continue to operate.

Patch will continue to bring you the best in local news coverage, which will only get better with the addition of the HuffPo team.

To read the official release about the acquisition click here.