AOL to be investigated over IPC buy

NEWS AOL Time Warner's acquisition of IPC Magazines is to be investigated by the European Commission. AOL Time Warner, which purchased the publishing giant for $1.15bn in July, has already made swingeing cuts to the company, including the closure of a number of its online properties. However, the merger could now be theoretically blocked. In a statement from Brussels today, the EC said its merger regulation review team would look at "Plans by Time UK Publishing Holdings, a unit of AOL Time Warner of the US, to acquire IPC Group." The deadline for the preliminary investigations is 12 October. By that stage, the EC has to decide if it still has serious concerns about the take-over, and whether or not to launch a full investigation.