Last night, Google sold off their 5% stake in AOL for $283 billion. Google acquired that 5% stake in 2005 for $1 billion. The news of the sale was pretty big, showing that AOL was valued at less than $5.66 billion and Tim Armstrong, a former Google executive, now CEO of AOL, will earn at least $1 million a year in salary and up to $4 million a year in bonuses, not including stock options.

AOL is really trying to change their perception and gain some traction this year, under the wings of Tim Armstrong. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

For more details on the deal, see Techmeme.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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