The Wall Street Journal reports that Discovery Communications will be purchasing online information portal HowStuffWorks.com for $250 million. This would be Discovery's largest Internet acquisition to date. The company purchased environmental-focused blog Treehugger earlier this year for a rumored price of around $10 million.

HowStuffWorks has a global audience of 11 million users per month, according to the company, says the WSJ. Discovery, meanwhile, reaches 1.5 billion viewers globally with its network of over 100 cable channels. Initially, Discovery plans to integrate video content from its massive library into the HSW web site -- which has already begun to happen. The How Shark Attacks Work and How Hybrid Cars Work pages, for example, now include Discovery Channel-branded video clips.

"Our goal is to build the ultimate multimedia experience for people who want to learn about the world we live in," wrote HSW founder Marshall Brain today of the acquisition. The purchase also includes other properties controlled by HowStuffWorks, according to the Wall Street Journal, including a map database.