• Portfolio, Thursday, December 9, 2010 1:12 PM

As planned, AOL's hyper-local news network Patch has launched its 500th Web site. "Yes, you read that right: 500 different websites, all with the same look and general feel, but each one staffed by an editor devoted to writing about the people and businesses in that community," writes Bizjournals' Portfolio.com.

"What's more impressive than the total number of Patch sites is the rate of growth for the company." At the beginning of the year, Patch had 30 sites online. Judging by a map illustrating Patch's national presence, its network is chiefly concentrated in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, California, Washington, Georgia, and Florida. The latest site, the one that pushed it over the 500 mark, was in Hopkins, Minnesota," Portfolio.com notes. Going forward, Patch president Warren Webster said, "We are very focused on continued growth."

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