Google gives up cut price stake in AOL

Google has sold off its stake in AOL for $700 million less than it bought it for.

Google bought the five per cent stake in the company back in 2005 for $1 billion but has now sold it to Time Warner for just $283 million.

This latest knock for the company has put its value at just $5.66 billion, compared to the publicised $20 billion it was worth back in 2005.

AOL hired an ex-president from Google, Tim Armstrong, to take over as chief executive in March this year, tasked with spinning off the company from Time Warner within the year and making it a success.

However, Armstrong told his employees last week that job cuts are a possibility once he has completed a 60 day review of the structure of the company, according to media reports.

Second quarter results for the company are due to be released tomorrow.

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.