RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Moving on to another billion-dollar tech deal, Microsoft has agreed to pay AOL over $1 billion for hundreds of patents. Microsoft outbid several rivals, including Amazon and eBay, in the deal which saw AOL's stock price jump by over 40 percent. The over 800 patents include Internet, search, email and customized advertising, and are seen as a push by Microsoft into the lucrative smartphone and tablet market.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: For AOL, the sale is seen as part of its continued transformation into a media company.
A shareholder group of AOL had been complaining that the struggling company hadn't acted to realize the value of its patents. Many tech companies have been moving aggressively to assemble large patent portfolios as they battle over intellectual property.