Google Says AOL Value Lower

Google has made a filing with the SEC, saying it might be forced to write off losses from its $1 billion stake in AOL.

Back in 2006, Google bought 5% of AOL. At that time the company was valued at $20 billion, so Google’s $1 billion investment seemed perfectly fair.

But that was then and this is now.

Last week Google made a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission warning that its investment has gone down in value, and that it might be forced to write off losses from it. The good news is that they believe this will pass.

The filing included:

"Based on our review, we believe our investment in AOL may be impaired," but tempered the bad news by adding:

"After consideration of the duration of the impairment, as well as the reasons for any decline in value and the potential recovery period, we do not believe that such impairment is other-than-temporary."

Google spent $1 billion two years ago as part of an ad deal. Of late, however, AOL has been struggling mightily, and there have been rumors that parent company Time Warner will put it up for sale, along with some large layoffs. Some analysts have estimated AOL’s current worth at $10 billion.