U.S. media giant AOL announced yesterday that it has bought popular technology blog TechCrunch for nearly US$25 million, said two sources familiar with the venture, Bloomberg reported. However, the San Jose Mercury News speculated that the figure might be anywhere between $25 to $45 million.

"It was either time for us to start investing a lot more money in things like technology and marketing - which probably meant raising a venture round - or to sell and simply partner with somebody who could do that," said TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. "AOL has a very robust, large blog network that shows they have the software side nailed. So it solves a real problem for us from the technology side."

The deal might have been part of a plan to help restore AOL's diminished market value and subscriber base, Bloomberg pointed out. According to the Los Angeles Times, acquiring TechCrunch was a way to expand AOL's presence in the technology sphere. The Internet provider already owns TechCrunch's contender Engadget, which it bought in 2005. Further, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong explained that the tech aspect might appeal to advertisers.

On Tuesday, AOL also purchased Thing Labs Inc., manufacturer of social networking software, as well as video content provider 5min Media under undisclosed terms, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to News Factor, Armstrong said 5min Media was the "missing piece" for AOL's video projects. The acquisition might help boost 5min Media's advertising appeal and might improve the way AOL's original video material is distributed and monetized.

USA Today noted that TechCrunch will be retaining editorial control over the content.

Meanwhile, the WSJ also noted that AOL said it planned to feature Thing Lab Brizzly apps (which allow users to chat as a group as well as browse and post updated to social networks Twitter and Facebook) on its Lifestream service, which collects updates from all social networks in one place.

The California-based TechCrunch was launched by Arrington in 2005 and currently has almost 40 staff members. According Bloomberg, in 2010 it was predicted to generate sales of $10 million, and around $3.5 million in revenues. comScore data showed that it had 3.8 million users in August. Arrington said he will be staying with TechCrunch for at least three years, the LA Times added.

Armstrong took charge of AOL last year, breaking it off from Time Warner Inc.. He sold social network Bebo and instant messaging software ICQ, because they failed to follow significant growth, Bloomberg wrote. Speaking at a conference in San Francisco, where the TechCrunch buyout was announced, Armstrong also mentioned that AOL would be selling news aggregator site Propeller.com.

Last month, AOL revealed a loss of $1 billion during the second quarter of 2010, The Telegraph said. According to MarketWatch, AOL shares hiked up by 2.8 percent or 65 cents, reaching $24.17, after the deal was announced.

TechCrunch has sites for Europe, gadget site CrunchGear, corporate tech outlet TechCrunch IT, GreenTech, CrunchGear, TechCrunch TV and mobile platform blog MobileCrunch. According to MediaNama, it also hosts conferences such as TechCrunch 50, The Crunchies Awards and TechCrunch Disrupt.