AOL faces investigation following Mapquest bid

America Online (AOL) has agreed to buy Mapquest.com for about $1.1 billion in stock to add the online map provider's services to its own.

But AOL is also expected to face an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) due to unusual activity in Mapquest's share price before the deal took place.

News of the agreement would appear to have leaked out on Tuesday with Mapquest's shares jumping 16 per cent in trading, which is equal to more than five times their three month daily average.

After the deal was announced, the company's share price dropped $7 to $25.50, but AOL had already offered $26.23 per share to take it over.

This means that, unusually, AOL's per share offer price was significantly lower than the price that Mapquest's stock closed at the day before the takeover was announced.

Mapquest licenses its online map service to more than 1,000 other companies, including Yahoo and Federal Express. AOL said it did not plan to cancel any agreements with competing portals, but plans to add the service to its local content network, Digital City.

Mapquest's offerings will also be included in AOL's movie listing guide and ticketing service, Moviefone, to create new advertising opportunities in the areas of entertainment, dining and shopping.

It also plans to use the service to make mapping available over wireless phones.