AOL is now officially part of Verizon

Verizon has successfully completed its acquisition of AOL. It’s been a little over one month since Verizon announced its $4.4 billion purchase of the company, but the deal has apparently sailed right along and is already closed. In May, Verizon said that buying AOL would mark “a significant step in building digital and video platforms to drive future growth.”

AOL’s fast-growing advertising business is widely viewed as the thing that hooked Verizon on the big acquisition. But the deal has also stirred uncertainty; Verizon’s long-term plans for popular AOL media brands like The Huffington Post, Engadget, and TechCrunch remain unclear. It’s been rumored that the company could spin off or sell the media business and focus AOL’s ad technology on its own mobile and internet video ambitions.

In a letter to employees announcing the deal last month, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong sold the acquisition as crucial to his company’s future. “This deal is aimed at the stars, and we are going to pursue the joint vision of building the most significant media platform in the world,” he wrote. “There is nothing more meaningful than watching our team turn around this great company and restoring it to growth when most people had left it for dead.”