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Verizon wireless will seal the deal to acquire AOL in the summer Reuters

US telecoms giant Verizon has announced that it will acquire AOL for $4.4bn (£2.8bn, €3.9bn) at $50 per share.

The firm said that it will attempt to close the all-cash deal in the summer, with AOL becoming a subsidiary of Verizon.

AOL is the parent company of Engadget, TechCrunch and The Huffington Post.

Tim Armstrong, AOL's chairman and chief executive, said: "The deal means we will be a division of Verizon and we will oversee AOL's current assets plus additional assets from Verizon that are targeted at the mobile and video media space."

He added that the deal will give AOL's content business more scale and "add a mobile lens" to the company.

On Verizon's part, the move is seen as an effort to expand its digital and video offerings. Verizon Wireless has 132 million subscribers in the US and is the largest mobile provider in the US.

AOL's stock bounced by more than 17% after the deal was announced. Verizon's was down about 2%.