Evernote parent company Bending Spoons set to acquire AOL

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David Uzondu Neowin · Oct 30, 2025 01:26 EDT

Yahoo and Bending Spoons have entered an agreement for the company to purchase America Online (AOL), valued at around $1.5 billion. The deal is expected to close before the year runs out, pending the usual regulatory approvals.

You might have heard about Bending Spoons before. It is an Italian tech company that specializes in buying and overhauling digital brands. The company is known for acquiring well-known software and services with the goal of long-term ownership.

Some of the notable brands in its portfolio include the note-taking app Evernote, the video platform Vimeo, event organizer Meetup, live streaming software StreamYard, and the file-sharing service WeTransfer.

Reed Rayman, Chair of Yahoo's Board of Directors, said the sale "positions AOL well for its next phase". He also stated that this sale allows Yahoo to focus more on its "AI-powered experiences." This signals a clear strategic pivot for Yahoo as it sheds a legacy asset to concentrate its resources on what it considers future growth areas. It is a logical step for a company trying to reinvent itself.

Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder, Luca Ferrari, sees "unexpressed potential" in the classic internet brand, adding that the company plans to "invest significantly" in the business.

AOL is an iconic, beloved business that's in good health, has stood the test of time, and we believe has unexpressed potential.

We intend to invest significantly to help the product and the business flourish. Bending Spoons has never sold an acquired business—we're confident we're the right long-term steward for AOL, and look forward to serving its large, loyal customer base for many years to come

Different corporate parents have bounced AOL around for over two decades. The company famously merged with Time Warner in 2001 in what became one of the most cautionary tales of the dot-com bubble.

After that, AOL was acquired by Verizon in 2015. Verizon later sold it, along with Yahoo, to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021.