Weblogs Inc. will be bought by America Online, and an announcement about the deal is expected next week, reports paidContent, citing unnamed sources. No firm figures are available, but one estimate placed the deal at $20 million for the blog media company, which is reportedly bringing in some $2 million a year. Others expressing an interest in the company apparently included News Corp., Yahoo and MSN.

The company, founded about two years ago Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey, has grown rapidly and includes well-known sites such as Engadget, Autoblog and BloggingBaby. It has about 130 bloggers, with about 15 full time employees, according to paidContent.

AOL, making its first foray into the world of blogs, reportedly intends to keep the company and blogs separate from its portal. Calacanis, in attendance at the We Media conference, refused to comment on the deal (but he was spotted with an AOL tote bag… paidContent's Rafat Ali quips).