Patch's Parent Company Announces Plans to Buy Huffington Post

America On Line, the parent company of Patch, has announced plans to buy The Huffington Post for $315 million.

The Huffington Post is one of the fastest-growing sites on the internet, gaining 22 percent last year, 15 times the growth rate of the entire net, according to a press release from AOL.

Patch,  now in nearly 800 towns across the U.S., is gathering unique visitors at triple digit year-over-year rates, and producing one piece of local content every nine seconds.

Huffington will become president and editor-in-chief of a new Huffington Post Media Group division at AOL, which will include Patch.

To see a video of an interview with AOL chief Tim Armstrong and Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington, click here. To read the official announcement from AOL, click here.

The buyout has yet to get government approval, but the boards of directors of both companies and shareholders of the Huffington Post have approved the deal, according to AOL.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter or the early part of the second quarter of this year, according to AOL.