AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has struck a deal with investment fund Hale Global to unload the Internet company's money-losing local news service, Patch.
In this new joint venture, Hale will run the business and bear its losses. (In our interview at CES last week Armstrong said he was working on this deal.)
Patch, AOL's big bet on local news, has been a big problem for the company. In 2012 Patch had a loss of $35 million, and last year after hundreds of layoffs and shuttering many of its sites, it still didn't turn a profit, despite a promise that it would by year-end.