Yahoo Close to Selling AOL to Italian App Developer Bending Spoons for $1.4 Billion.
Yahoo is in final talks to sell AOL to Italian app developer Bending Spoons for approximately $1.4 billion, according to sources familiar with the deal.
According to them, a final agreement has not yet been signed and the deal could fall through, but the parties are already in advanced negotiations. Yahoo is owned by Apollo Global Management, which acquired the company from Verizon in 2021 for $5 billion.
Milan-based Bending Spoons is known for its strategy of acquiring struggling tech companies and then modernizing their services. In 2024, it was valued at $2.55 billion after a successful funding round, becoming one of Italy’s few unicorns.
This deal will be a new chapter in AOL’s history. Once a symbol of the early internet era and creator of the iconic “You’ve Got Mail” notification, AOL.com has focused in recent years on advertising and subscription services, including LifeLock, LastPass, and McAfee Multi Access. According to sources, AOL.com traffic has grown 20% over the past year among audiences aged 25-54.
Bending Spoons, whose services are used by over 300 million people monthly, has been actively expanding its business in recent months. The company acquired WeTransfer and also closed the acquisition of video platform Vimeo for $1.38 billion.
Analysts believe the AOL deal will strengthen Bending Spoons’s position in the digital media market and bring it closer to a potential IPO in the US.
CEA Industries announced plans to raise up to $500 million through a PIPE deal and invest in BNB.
CEA Industries Inc. (ticker BNC, Nasdaq) filed documents for a private placement (PIPE) of up to $500 million. The company’s management stated that it plans to use part of the proceeds to build a large corporate portfolio of the BNB token, aiming for its widespread adoption and use.
