Microsoft purchased more than 900 patents from AOL earlier this year

Dec 18, 2012 07:47 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has officially taken over more than 900 patents from AOL in August, with the Redmond-based technology company paying a total of $1.056 billion (€835 million).

Thanks to this agreement, each AOL employee will receive a year-end bonus of $1,056 (€800), the editors over at TechCrunch, which is also part of the AOL empire, announced.

“The $1,000 cash bonus is a celebration of the company’s $1.056 billion patent sale it made earlier this year,” TechCrunch wrote.

If you were wondering, Microsoft is yet to announce any special year-end bonus for its employees, but the company has recently started handing out Surface tablets to each worker.

The company announced this campaign back in September, but it has decided to gift employees with the tablets just before Christmas, probably in an attempt to gain more exposure and help boost sales of the RT version in the upcoming months.