As part of the deal, Facebook has agreed to buy a portion of the patents Microsoft recently acquired from AOL. Facebook will pay Microsoft US$550 million in cash for around 650 AOL patents and patent applications, plus a license to the AOL patents and patent applications Microsoft will buy.

Earlier this month, Microsoft to pay $1.06 billion in cash to own or assign around 925 AOL patents and obtain a nonexclusive license to more than 300 patents AOL is retaining.

Areas covered by the patents in question include online advertising, search, content generation and management, social networking, mapping, multimedia and streaming, and security.

When the Facebook deal closes, Microsoft will own around 275 AOL patents and patent applications, a license to the 650 Facebook will own and a license to the around 300 patents AOL retained.

Microsoft's deal with Facebook allows Microsoft to recover more than half of what it spent in the AOL deal, while achieving its goals, Microsoft's General Counsel Brad Smith said in a statement.