AOL has announced a $600 million repurchase of AOL stock, and a one-time cash dividend of $5.15 per share, following the completion of its $1.1 billion patent sale to Microsoft.

AOL reported its earnings for Q2 2012, with revenues down to $531 million but a significant increase in net profits which jumped to around $970 million, owing primarily to its patent sale.

Facebook has acquired around 650 of AOL’s patents from Microsoft for $550 million.

Facebook is in dire need of a robust internet patent portfolio right now, as it is being targeted by Yahoo and others. AOL’s patent portfolio may be a perfect fit for it.

After Yahoo, Facebook may be getting sued for patent infringement by a number of other companies, including AOL and Mitel.

Top email providers including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL have partnered with Cisco spinoff Agari to identify and filter phishing campaigns.

Recently AOL acquired the news opinion website Huffingtonpost.com and it is after this development that the company plans to lay off around 70 per cent of AOL India’s total employee strength which currently stands at about 1000 employees.

AOL has officially acquired the popular technology blog, TechCrunch. It is now a part of the AOL Technology Network, which includes Engadget and TUAW.

Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, announced today at TechCrunch Disrupt that AOL has finally acquired TechCrunch and all their properties in a successful deal today.

While Engadget is regarded as the top gadget blog, TechCrunch is the top tech blog and this acquisition will give AOL a stronghold over two of the most popular niche in the world of blogging.