AOL to sell 800 patents to Microsoft for $1 bil

NEW YORK — AOL announced plans Monday to sell more than 800 patents to Microsoft in a $1.056 billion deal giving the struggling Internet pioneer a needed cash injection as it seeks to fend off pressure from shareholders.

The deal also provides Microsoft with licenses to more than 300 additional patents and patent applications, AOL said in a statement.

AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong said the deal “unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value.”

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in the statement that the software giant is getting “a valuable portfolio that we have been following for years and analyzing in detail for several months.”

He said Microsoft “was able to achieve our two primary goals: obtaining a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.”

AOL said that after the deal is complete, it will continue to hold “a significant patent portfolio of over 300 patents and patent applications spanning core and strategic technologies, including advertising, search, content generation/management, social networking, mapping, multimedia/streaming, and security among others.”

AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft.

The patent sale includes stock in an AOL subsidiary on which AOL expects to record a loss for tax purposes and as a result, AOL will offset most taxes in the deal.

The company said it intends “to return a significant portion of the sale proceeds to shareholders and will determine the most efficient and effective method to do so prior to the closing of the transaction.”

Earlier this year, a U.S. hedge fund with a large stake in AOL sought five seats on the board of directors and criticized the strategy of the current management for failing to deliver for shareholders.

AOL has been losing money since the collapse of its leadership as an Internet subscription service, and has been seeking to become a more diversified web firm.

The company fused with news and entertainment giant Time Warner in 2001 at the height of the dotcom boom in what is seen as one of the most disastrous mergers ever. It was spun off by Time Warner in December 2009 into an independent company.

Under Armstrong, hired three years ago, the company formerly known as America online has invested heavily in online content, purchasing The Huffington Post and TechCrunch websites and putting money in local news network Patch.

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, the companies said.

source: japantoday.com

Student rejects Limbaugh's apology as sponsors flee

WASHINGTON — A law student branded a “slut” and a “prostitute” by U.S. radio host Rush Limbaugh in an on-air rant about contraception rejected his apology Monday as more sponsors abandoned the right-wing icon’s show.

Internet pioneer AOL was the biggest name to declare it would no longer advertise on “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” the highest-rated talk show on U.S. radio, syndicated to more than 600 radio stations from coast to coast.

“At AOL, one of our core values is that we act with integrity,” it said on its Twitter account. “We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr Limbaugh’s comments are not in line with our values.”

California-based Tax Resolution Services also yanked its ads, it announced via Twitter, although it retained Limbaugh’s personal endorsement of its services on its website.

Distancing themselves earlier from the famously abrasive broadcaster were ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, mattress outlets Sleep Train and Sleep Number, and tech firms Citrix Systems, Carbonite and LegalZoom.

Limbaugh apologized to Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke over the weekend for calling her “a slut” and “a prostitute” after she argued before a congressional panel in favor of health insurance coverage for contraceptives.

He renewed that apology on Monday, telling listeners: “Those two words were inappropriate. They were uncalled for… I again sincerely apologize to Ms Fluke for using those two words to describe her.”

But Fluke, 30, appearing on ABC television’s “The View,” said she did not think Limbaugh’s remarks changed anything, “especially when that statement is issued when he’s under significant pressure from his sponsors.”

Advertising Age, a trade journal, in a recap of similar furors in the past, said: “Advertisers may appear to leave, but they more often simply move to the sidelines. Sometimes, they even come back.”

Last month, Fluke told Democrats on Capitol Hill that health insurance at her Catholic-affiliated university ought to pay for contraception—a key but controversial requirement in President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law.

The past president of the Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice also told of a gay friend who had been denied birth control pills to treat an ovarian cyst that grew to the point where her ovaries had to be removed.

“Without insurance coverage, contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school,” added Fluke, who said the issue was “not about church and state; it’s about women’s health.”

To which Limbaugh told listeners: “What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex?”

“What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute,” Limbaugh said. “She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.”

Obama called Fluke on Friday to express support as the firestorm over Limbaugh’s attack swept the nation.

Birth control has become a major issue as the 2012 election campaign heats up, after Republicans called Obama’s provision requiring all employers—including those with religious affiliations—to offer free contraception on employee health plans was a war on religion.

Limbaugh’s program is syndicated by Clear Channel Communications, which is part-owned by Bain Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney.

Americans United for Change, a liberal group, challenged Romney to demand that Clear Channel “fire him today… Anything short of that can only be interpreted as a tacit endorsement of Limbaugh’s vile comments.”

source: japantoday.com