Patch to Team Up with The Huffington Post Via Parent Company AOL

The Sunset Hills-Crestwood Patch will come under the control of The Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington after AOL, Patch's parent company, announced Monday a $315 million deal to buy the Internet newspaper.

Huffington founded "Huff Post" with investor Ken Lerer in 2005. The group grew its reputation and readers with star bloggers and interviews, including President Obama.

AOL launched Patch in Feb. 2009 and has grown to nearly 800 local community news websites across the nation. 

AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong announced the Huffington deal to employees through an email at 11pm Sunday. Armstrong and Huffington agreed on the purchase just during half-time of Super Bowl XLV Sunday.

"This will create a new way for people to get local and global information in a timely and entertaining way," Armstrong said.

He described Huffington as "one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the Internet space and someone that is even more successful in building communities."

Huffington will be named president and editor in chief of The Huffington Post Media Group within AOL. The majority of the $315 million deal was cash, with only $15 million in stock.

AOL bought Patch and made its founder, Armstrong, CEO of AOL at the same time.

AOL split from Time Warner in 2009 after an 8-year partnership.