Since its 2009 spinoff from Time Warner, the end of what may have been the most disastrous merger in corporate history, AOL has become best known for its editorial operations. Chief among them is the Huffington Post, which Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong bought for $315 million in early 2011. But some of AOL's quieter acquisitions were what made it an attractive target for Verizon Communications, which announced on May 12 that it would pay $4.4 billion for the pioneering Internet company. "The principal interest was around the ad tech platform that Tim Armstrong and his team have done a really terrific job building," John Stratton, Verizon's executive vice president and head of operations, said at an investor conference on the day of the announcement. "We really like the technology a lot."
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