AOL has snaffled Google's US sales boss Tim Armstrong to be its chairman and chief executive.

Armstrong ran Google's online advertising push and its north American operations after joining the search giant in 2000.

AOL's current chairman and chief executive Randy Falco and president Ron Grant will leave the sleeping internet portal after a handover period.

Official statement here.

Google paid $1bn for a 5 per cent stake in AOL in 2005 but in January the search giant said that investment was now worth just $274m.

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