Verizon has approached AOL about a potential acquisition or joint venture with the internet company to expand its mobile-video offerings, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. Verizon hasn’t made a formal proposal to AOL, and no agreement is imminent, the report said.
Verizon's primarily interested in AOL’s technology for automated buying and selling of ads online, which two people said could be paired with a future online-video product. Verizon is developing a mobile-video service based on the OnCue technology acquired from Intel last year.
With a takeover it would also gain internet properties including The Huffington Post and Endgadget and around 2.3 million internet subscribers. AOL has a market capitalisation of around USD 3.5 billion. Both companies declined to comment on the report.
