MUMBAI: Being on a buying spree, AOL Inc. has completed the acquisition of the online news site The Huffington Post for $315 million

Pursuing its turnaround plan under chief executive officer Tim Armstrong, AOL is looking at being one of the top players in news, entertainment and other digital content.

Incidentally, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTCC) has decided that it will not challenge AOL‘s most recent acquisition.

The Huffington Post, which has more than 27 million monthly US visitors, will be integrated with AOL Media and AOL local properties such as TechCrunch and Engadget in a new division called the Huffington Post Media Group.     
 
As part of the acquisition, Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington will assume responsibility for a wide range of AOL content as president of The Huffington Post Media Group. He will serve as the unit’s president and editor-in-chief.

“Through this acquisition, AOL is accelerating its strategy to deliver a scaled and differentiated array of premium news, analysis, and entertainment produced by thousands of writers, editors, reporters, and videographers around the globe,” AOL said in a statement.

On its part, the Huffington Post has disclosed the names of six new hires. The company has recruited Yahoo’s! Michael Calderone to be a senior media reporter, the New York Times‘ Trymaine Lee as a senior reporter, the New York Daily News’ Michael McAuliff as a senior congressional reporter and The Daily’s Jon Ward as a senior political reporter. It has also hired Bonnie Kavoussi, who is set to graduate from Harvard, as a business reporter and Lucas Kavner, founding editor of Unigo, as an entertainment reporter.

With the acquisition, the combined entity will have a user base of 117 million visitors a month in the US and 253 million worldwide.

Armstrong has already made it clear that there will be layoffs in The Huffington Post.