AOL Germany being sold to Telecom Italia SpA

Time Warner’s internet division AOL has confirmed that they are selling the AOL Germany’s Internet access business to Telecom Italia SpA for about $870 million.

With this, AOL is exiting one of the fastest growing internet markets in the European region.

The deal would be conducted in a cash only transaction and would be complete by early next year. It would however still require approval from the regulatory authorities.

This announcement comes just weeks after AOL announced that they are planning to cut 5,000 jobs, or a quarter of its global work force.

They have around 1.1 million broadband users and 1.3 million subscribers to dialup and ISDN in Germany.

Telecom Italia Chief Executive Riccardo Ruggiero said in a statement on this deal: “This acquisition marks a further step in Telecom Italia’s strategy of focusing on broadband services and content delivery at an international level.”