ICQ

AOL has at last sold ICQ instant messenger company to Russian investors for $187.5 million. The transaction was reported by Digital Sky Technologies, an investment group backed by Yuri Milner, a media baron, and Alisher Usmanov, Uzbek commodities tycoon who owns a large stake in Arsenal FC.

While the popularity of the instant messenger has declined in the Western countries it remained strong and even increased in Israel, where it was developed, and former Soviet countries.

An online instant messenger ICQ, owned by AOL and widely used outside the United States, has added the support of Facebook Chat.

Earlier AIM, which is also owned by AOL, also added Facebook Chat support to its services. In January ICQ launched its 7 version with Facebook support but that included only status updates while the Chat has gone live on March 25 yesterday.

"There is Russian spirit here, it smells like Russia," – today this phrase can be heard not only in Russian fairytales but also in a tangled multi-level structures of the modern Internet. From the time the Internet came to Russia, one of the leading world powers has staked a claim to its segment of the Internet which does not only impress by its scale but also makes you think about the special, new beginning of Internet.