In a surprise move late Sunday night (so surprising most HuffPo employees learned about it on the news), AOL purchased The Huffington Post for $315 million and put HuffPo founder and namesake Arianna Huffington in charge of all AOL provided content.
HuffPo was represented in this deal by a team of lawyers from Latham & Watkins led by partner Alex Voxman and counsel David Blood. Also contributing were benefits and compensation partner Laurence Seymour, antitrust partner Abbott Lipsky, tax partner Samuel Weiner, and antitrust counsel Sydney Smith.
AOL used long time outside counsel Peter Malloy from Simpson Thatcher. Malloy was assisted by intellectual property partner Lori Lesser, tax partner Katharine Moir, and executive compensation partner Tristan Brown.
The $315 million deal includes a cash payment of $300 million with the remained in stock and is expected to close no later than the end of the second quarter.