AOL acquires contextual search firm Sphere

Web services giant AOL announced its acquisition of search firm Sphere Source Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sphere provides contextual search tools offering related content to publishers--the three-year-old firm connects content from blogs, video, media, photos and advertisements, displaying results in a pop-over window or an integrated widget that enables publishers to enhance articles by incorporating related articles and blog posts. Sphere's third-party network includes more than 50,000 content publishers and blogs--prior to the acquisition, the company partnered with AOL to offer its widget technology on AOL News and the myAOL service, Mgnet. Sphere will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL under the aegis of its Programming division.

For more on the AOL/Sphere deal:
- read this release

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