AOL has announced that it bought contextual display company Sphere Source Inc for a undisclosed sum. Unnamed sources quoted by TechCrunch allege the deal was worth about $25 million.

“Our focus at AOL is providing consumers relevant content wherever they are on the Web, and Sphere’s capabilities fit in perfectly with this effort. Not only will it let us enhance content on our own sites, it will let us distribute our content across Sphere’s growing third-party publisher network,” said Ron Grant, President and COO of AOL, in an official statement.

Founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, Sphere Source has developed a contextual-search platform technology used in over 50,000 sites, including those of media organizations CNN, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and CBS. Sphere technology also used on various pages of its new parent, AOL. Sphere Source will now be part of AOL's programming division.

Last month, in an unexpected move, AOL announced it has acquired Bebo, one of the most popular social networking sites Europe. AOL agreed to pay for its recent acquisition $850 million in cash. Bebo has 40 million worldwide users and is considered one of the leading social networks in the UK.

In addition, Bebo is ranked number one in Ireland and New Zealand, and number three in the U.S. Its users are heavily engaged and view an average of 78 pages per usage day. Founded in 2005, by husband and wife team Michael and Xochi Birch, Bebo has approximately 100 employees operating in offices in the UK, San Francisco and Austin, TX.