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AOL agrees to sell 800 patents to Microsoft for $1 bn
MUMBAI: AOL Inc. has consented to sell more than 800 patents and related products to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) for $1.056 billion as it looks to raise fresh cash for its investors while fighting a boardroom showdown with an activist shareholder.
Shares of AOL surged as much as 45 per cent yesterday hitting their highest point in nearly one and a half years as the company pledged to return a “significant portion” of the sale proceeds to shareholders.
Seeming to address a criticism from activist investor, Starboard Value, the company didn‘t announce how it will distribute the money but said it will share the proceeds.
Under the agreement that was announced, AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft. Assuming that the deal materialised at the end of 2011, AOL said that it would have had about $15 a share in cash.
However, the company didn‘t detail the patents sold, although its chief executive Tim Armstrong recently referred to them as “beachfront property in East Hampton.”
In general, the value of patents can fluctuate and be arbitrary, and others weren‘t as confident in AOL‘s particular portfolio. The patent-advisory firm M-Cam Inc. had valued AOL‘s holdings at $290 million.
Starboard, which owns around 5.2 per cent in AOL and is mounting a proxy campaign to win seats on AOL‘s board, had said AOL‘s portfolio of more than 800 patents covering Internet technologies could generate more than $1 billion in licensing income “if appropriately harvested.”
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
