New Hot Details From The AOL-Verizon Merger

An SEC filing posted on Tuesday afternoon has revealed some additional details surrounding the AOL, Inc. AOL - Verizon Communications Inc. VZ merger.

The Context

A few days ago, rumors about a sale were finally confirmed, as Verizon agreed to pay $50 per share in cash (or approximately $4.4 billion) to purchase AOL.

Through this deal, Verizon acquired not only a tech company, but also a publishing business, which includes famed media outlets like the Huffington Post and TechCrunch.

Related Link: Re/code @Recode AOL Was Approached By 3 Other Bidders

The New Details

Now, a few more details have been made public. The most relevant one is probably the fact that AOL was approached by several companies interested in buying it.

Although the SEC filing does not disclose who the interested parties were, AOL did say there were three more companies (on top of Verizon) that contacted it regarding a potential acquisition.

Some other interesting facts include:

• Joint Venture At first, Verizon was considering a joint venture, articulating the “potential strategic benefits associated with combining the Company’s [AOL’s] programmatic advertising platform and media content with Verizon’s mobile OTT offering, premium video content and end-to-end video delivery network.”
• Selling Brand Group AOL had also considered a different deal. It could sell its Brand Group assets (Huffington Post and TechCrunch) separately, while keeping its tech businesses.
• Original Offer Verizon finally decided to acquire 100 percent of AOL, but originally offered $47 per share. The latter was expecting an offer “in the 50s...in light of the significant strategic benefits and accelerated monetization that Verizon would gain from combining the Company’s programmatic advertising platform and media content with Verizon’s mobile OTT offering, premium video content and end-to-end video delivery network.”
• Founders' Incentive Award AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong, one of the main actors responsible for the closing of this deal, will receive a “Founders’ Incentive Award” representing 1.5 percent of the company’s market value as of the consummation of the transaction. This means that Armstrong will get more than $59 million out of this merger.