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Sale of Google's stake values AOL at $5.7 billion

Time Warner purchased Google's 5 percent stake in AOL for $283 million earlier this month, paving the way for an AOL spin-off and valuing the company well below 2000-era levels.

The end result of Google's $1 billion investment in AOL in 2006? 28 cents on the dollar.

Time Warner, which is in the process of spinning out AOL as a separate company once again, confirmed that Google sold its 5 percent stake in AOL for $283 million on July 8, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Both companies had signaled their intentions long ago regarding that stake: Google notified Time Warner in February that it was ready to make a move and wrote off more than $700 million of that investment in January, while Time Warner said it would buy back the stake in May when announcing plans to spin off AOL.

Still, the move closes a chapter in the relationship between Google and AOL. It also values the Time Warner unit at $5.7 billion, according to Reuters.

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