Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

• AOL buys HuffPo. AOL (AOL) announced it's buying closely-held Huffington Post for $315M, a move that will create a media group with a combined base of 117M monthly visitors in the U.S. and 270M monthly visitors globally. All Huffington Post and AOL content will be integrated into a newly formed The Huffington Post Media Group, to be led by Arianna Huffington. AOL, which has been struggling, hopes the deal will accelerate its efforts to become a media and entertainment powerhouse. (HuffPo's take on the deal)
• Hackers hit Nasdaq. Hackers have successfully breached Nasdaq's computer networks multiple times over the past year, leaving federal investigators scrambling to determine how and why. Nasdaq confirmed over the weekend that its system had been breached, specifically a service that lets leaders of companies securely share confidential documents; the exchange's trading platform wasn't compromised. One working theory is that hackers were looking for private inside information to gain an edge in trading, but terrorism, theft or wire fraud are possibilities too as the investigation is still in its initial stages.
• Sanofi, Genzyme deal imminent. The boards of Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) and Genzyme (GENZ) reportedly met separately yesterday to iron out the final details of their $20B deal. Sources said Sanofi would pay $74 per share in cash, along with a contingent value right worth around $5-6 per share. Though the final negotiations are taking slightly longer than anticipated, the companies reportedly expect to seal a deal early this week.
• Santander bids for Polish bank. Santander (STD)

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