In its second recent high-profile media site acquisition, AOL has announced it will pay $315 million to acquire The Huffington Post, the influential news site co-founded in 2005 by Arianna Huffington and media executive Kenneth Lerer.

As part of the transaction, AOL said Huffington will be named President and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which will integrate all Huffington Post and AOL content, including Engadget, TechCrunch, Moviefone, MapQuest, Black Voices, PopEater, AOL Music, AOL Latino, AutoBlog, Patch, StyleList, and more.

The acquisition "will create a next-generation American media company with global reach," said AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong.

AOL said the new group will have 117 million unique visitors a month in the U.S., 270 million around the world.

"This is truly a merger of visions and a perfect fit for us," said Huffington. "The Huffington Post will continue on the same path we have been on for the last six years – though now at light speed – by combining with AOL."

From AOL's press release detailing terms of the deal:

AOL has agreed to purchase The Huffington Post for $315 million, approximately $300 million of which will be paid in cash funded from cash on hand. The Huffington Post is privately owned by its two cofounders, as well as a group of investors. The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of government approvals. The boards of directors of each company and shareholders of The Huffington Post have approved the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the late first- or early second-quarter 2011.



Lerer is a former executive vice president at AOL Time Warner. A news conference is planned for Monday morning to discuss the deal. In September, AOL announced its acquisition of heavyweight tech blog TechCrunch.

AOL founder Steve Case tweeted about the Huffington Post deal, saying: "Tim Armstrong says "1 + 1 will equal 11"...Really? That wasn't my experience."