Bending Spoons is known for acquiring struggling tech companies and revamping them. In 2024, the Italian giant completed a funding round that valued it at $2.55 billion.
Italy’s Bending Spoons announced its acquisition of AOL from the Apollo Global Management-backed Yahoo. The Italian tech company said that it has secured a $2.8 billion debt financing package, which extends not only to the takeover but will also be invested in furthering research, development and M&A initiatives.
Although Bending Spoons did not disclose any further details of this deal, news broke earlier this month that revealed the Milan-based app developer was in talks with Yahoo to buy out one of the most prominent platforms from the early internet days. Apollo Global Management has owned a 90% stake in Yahoo since 2021, when it bought the search engine platform from Verizon in a $5 billion deal.
Bending Spoons is known for acquiring struggling tech companies and revamping them. In 2024, the Italian giant completed a funding round that valued it at $2.55 billion, marking a significant milestone for the company, which became a ‘unicorn’. A unicorn is a private company whose valuation exceeds $1 billion. It has even raised 500 million euros in venture debt for its M&A plans.
The app developer is supported in this acquisition by a large consortium of banks like Banco BPM, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, among others. This has brought the firm’s total debt funding for this year up to $4 billion.
AOL has piqued the interest of Bending Spoons because, through this merger, AOL’s vast user base can be inducted into the company. Moreover, AOL still generates revenue through advertising and from its subscription services like antivirus provider McAfee Multi Access, LifeLock identity theft protection and LastPass password management.
Additionally, insider AOL sources recently admitted that the platform’s web traffic growth in the 25-54 years age group surpassed the above 55 years age group. This was possible due to the newly introduced content categories to AOL.com, like Health, Fitness, True Crime, Science & Tech, etc.
Bending Spoons said in its statement that AOL is a beloved platform that has stood the test of time. Its subscriber base is around 30 million monthly and 8 million daily active users, ranking it among the top 10 most used email apps globally.
With approximately 300 million monthly active users, Bending Spoons has gone on a series of acquisitions in the past year. In September, it announced the $1.38 billion takeover of video platform Vimeo, making it the company’s largest deal at the time. Vimeo shareholders are set to receive $7.85 in cash for each share, which is a 63% premium to the stock’s last close.
Like AOL, Vimeo was also struggling to stand out in the market, where YouTube dominates the video platforms sector. This purchase was part of Bending Spoons’ expansion strategy into the OTT streaming industry through Vimeo Streaming. The Italian tech firm already owns note-taking tool Evernote and photo editor Remini and aims to expand its range of self-service tools.
Citing similar reasons, last year, it also bought Netherlands-based file-sharing platform WeTransfer. At the time of the acquisition, the Dutch company had 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly active users. Bending Spoons had also previously purchased digital publishing platform Issuu, a platform where printed magazines and books can be converted into digital publications.
The company CEO and Co-Founder, Luca Ferrari, said last year that while the company had no immediate plans to go public, it would be working towards it. Bending Spoons was eyeing an IPO listing in the US; however, given the recent economic and market volatility, this may no longer be the case. However, it is clear that regardless of the company’s plans to make its IPO market debut, it will continue its expansion strategy by pursuing more M&A opportunities.
