Facebook purchases $550 million worth of patents from Microsoft, who obtained them from AOL just two weeks ago
Comment | Print | Email to a Friend | Font Size: AAAhead of their planned public offering which is poised to take form next month, social networking giant Facebook have just inked a deal to purchase a slew of patents from Microsoft.
Facebook have reportedly handed over $550 million in cash for a selection of patents that Microsoft only obtained from AOL two weeks ago in a deal valued at $1 billion. The original $1 billion deal saw AOL shares jump 37-percent, while retaining perpetual licensing to the IP sold.
Microsoft were then able to grab back over half of what they paid AOL for the patents, with Microsoft executive vice president and general counsel Brad Smith telling All Things D that Redmond never felt it was necessary or important to own all of the patents.
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