Patch, a division of AOL, is a network of local news sites with a combination of staff-produced and community-contributed material.

The company, which focuses exclusively on local news, began with a handful of sites in New Jersey and Connecticut and now is in about 900 communities. According to comScore, its sites drew 6.9 million unique visitors in April 2011.

The company was founded by John Brod and Tim Armstrong in 2007. Armstrong, who would become AOL’s CEO just before the company bought Patch, was also one of Patch’s principal initial investors.

AOL bought Patch in 2009 for $7 million and announced in early 2010 that it would take its network from 30 sites to “hundreds” by the end of the year, pouring $50 million into the company in the process. AOL reported putting $75 million into Patch in 2010 and $160 million in 2011. It expected Patch to lose money in 2011, and other reports confirmed this, with one estimating its losses at more than $100 million and another reporting its revenue as $13 million against expenses of $160 million.

AOL did not give overall Patch profit figures, but reported that 100 of its 900 Patch sites were profitable at the end of 2012. Patch’s revenues increased in 2012 to $34 million, but it also laid off about 20 employees and consolidated its geographic regions in May 2012. Patch reportedly remained unprofitable at the end of 2012, and AOL expressed a reset goal to have it profitable by the end of 2013.

Patch has been met with various criticism over its staffing, revenue model and ability to reach local audiences. Incidents of plagiarism at Patch sites in California and New York and concerns about the overall quality of Patch reporting led some to question the experience of staff writers as well as the hours and workload those journalists face and the pay they are given, as well as their pressure to produce quantifiable results. Alternately, some have wondered if Patch will be able to secure the amount of advertising from local businesses necessary to sustain sites and pay reporters. One result of the expansion of Patch sites nationally has been the reallocation of journalism to local reporting from newspapers.