Microsoft Has Bought Netscape

Microsoft is buying Netscape -- or at least most of the important parts of the company that, for those of us old enough to remember, used to be synonymous with “Internet, and the World Wide Web.”

The deal is a side component of the $1 billion patent sale that AOL and Microsoft announced recently. As part of the transaction, AOL announced that it was selling off “stock of an AOL subsidiary” at a loss, in a move that’s supposed to reduce its overall tax bill.

AOL didn’t disclose the name of that subsidiary in its press release, but a person familiar with the transaction has told Peter Kafka of All Things D: It’s Netscape.

Microsoft will buy the underlying patents for the old browser, but AOL will hang on to the brand and the related Netscape businesses, which make up a grab bag of stuff these days: An ISP, a URL, a brand name, etc.

All of which probably makes sense on someone’s ledger books. But the transaction may still make a few heads spin, at least for people who remember Internet history and/or have access to Wikipedia.

All Things D


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