AOL Sells ICQ to Russian Company

AOL is to sell its ICQ instant messaging service to Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian internet company, for $187.5m, or less than half the $400m it paid for ICQ in 1998.

The disposal came as AOL yesterday reported a 58% decline in first quarter net profit and a 23% drop in revenue year-on-year, according to Financial Times.

The sale is part of AOL's drive to shed non-core assets to fortify its position in an internet industry.

Internet display advertising revenue, which fell 13% in the first quarter, will not show positive net growth until the beginning of next year.
AOL, which spun off from Time Warner last December, is also looking to shed assets such as Bebo, the UK social networking site it bought for nearly $1bn in 2008.

A decision to sell or shut down will be made by next month. AOL reported a first quarter net profit of $34.7m, or 32 cents per share, from a profit of $82.7m, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier.