AOL to buy the Huffington Post

Arianna Huffington is selling the Huffington Post to AOL Inc. for $315 million.

The deal, which Huffington announced on her blog on the Huffington Post website and AOL announced in a news release, will move the co-founder of the news site to the position of president and editor in chief of a new Huffington Post Media Group division at AOL.

The purchase will increase AOL’s news portfolio as it competes against Yahoo’s growing online news publication profile and Google’s news efforts, as well as traditional media companies online.

Additional AOL news websites will fall under Huffington’s control as well.

In a statement, AOL said it is buying the Huffington Post with about $300 million from on-hand cash. The purchase has yet to acquire government approvals, but the boards of directors of each company and shareholders of the Huffington Post have approved the transaction, AOL said.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter or the early part of the second quarter of this year, AOL said.