Bending Spoons acquires AOL from Yahoo, raising $2.8B in debt to do it
Oct 29, 2025
Key Points
- Bending Spoons acquired AOL from Yahoo and raised $2.8 billion in debt to fund the deal, subject to regulatory approval.
- The European software conglomerate is adding AOL to its portfolio of acquired digital properties including Evernote, WeTransfer, and Vimeo.
- AOL remains a functioning email and web portal service, but the economics of its revenue model and user base are unclear.
Summary
Bending Spoons, a European software conglomerate, acquired AOL from Yahoo and raised $2.8 billion in debt to fund the deal. The acquisition is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.
Bending Spoons has assembled a portfolio of acquired digital assets in recent years, including Evernote, WeTransfer, and Vimeo. AOL marks another addition to its collection across multiple product categories.
The deal stands out for its scale of debt financing deployed on a legacy digital property. AOL still operates as an email and web portal service, though its current revenue model and user base are not clearly defined. The uncertainty centers on whether AOL's email business generates meaningful subscription revenue or relies primarily on advertising.
The acquisition highlights AOL's persistence as a digital asset despite its decline from dominance as an internet service provider in the 1990s and 2000s. AOL's historical reach came through distribution of installation CDs offering free trial hours bundled with software.