You've got mail, AOL, and it's worth over $4 billion.
Telecom giant Verizon announced Tuesday it will be buying AOL for $50 per share, or about $4.4 billion. The deal will give Verizon access to AOL's content and digital advertising.
The acquisition gives Verizon an entryway into the increasingly competitive online video space. The New York company is the country's largest wireless carrier as well as an Internet and TV provider, and it is increasingly over the wireless space that telecom companies are fighting to win customers through video content.
The transaction will be completed this summer and will take the form of a tender offer followed by a merger, after which AOL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon, the company said.
"Verizon's acquisition further drives its LTE wireless video and OTT (over-the-top video) strategy," Verizon said in a statement.
Tim Armstrong, AOL's chairman and CEO, will remain at his position once the deal is finalized.
"Verizon is a leader in mobile and OTT connected platforms, and the combination of Verizon and AOL creates a unique and scaled mobile and OTT media platform for creators, consumers and advertisers," Armstrong said in the release.
AOL decided to sell to Verizon to compete in a future marketplace dominated by larger players, Armstrong told CNBC on Tuesday.
"If you look at AOL over the last five years ... we turned the company around. We outperformed the S&P 500 for the last five years, and when you look at where we are today and where we're going, we've made AOL as big as it can possibly be in today's landscape," he said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "But if you look forward five years, you're going to be in a space where there are going to be massive, global-scale networks, and there's no better partner for us to go forward with than Verizon."
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-- Reuters contributed to this report.
