AOL Inc. announced that parent Time Warner Inc. bought back a 5% stake ($283 million) in the online unit — originally purchased by Google Inc. for $1 billion in 2006, as AOL seeks to revive its fortunes as an independent entity.

AOL, which is being spun off by Time Warner said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that in 2008, advertising revenue stemming from its search advertising partnership with Google amounted to $678 million — a significant chunk of its $2 billion in total advertising revenue for the period.