AOL announced that it has closed a deal to sell more than 800 patents to Microsoft. The deal is just north of a billion dollars, and it’s easy to see why AOL might want to cash in on the intellectual property. What is less clear is why Microsoft is interested in the patent portfolio, or what Microsoft gains from the deal.

AOL is a mere shadow of its former self. It was once a dominant and iconic player as an online service—before the Internet itself made online services obsolete. AOL has reinvented itself and managed to stick around this long, though, but it can use the influx of cash and the boost to its stock price.