AOL has struck a deal with Microsoft to sell over 800 patents it owns to Microsoft. There is also talk that Microsoft will also be non-exclusively licensing over 300 additional patents and applications along with the 800 purchased. The deal is worth $1.056 billion in what is believed to be a cash deal. The terms of the deal are as follows, AOL will continue to retail over 300 patents and patent applications that go over all types of technology from advertising, searches, content management, social networking and mapping, among others, following the sale. This monster deal is said to be completed by the end of 2012. I want to keep a close eye on this as who knows what Microsoft is planning to do with these patents but after spending just over a $1 billion in cash, I am sure they have some bright ideas.
