macnn/electronista
10/06/2008, 2:05pm, EDT
Monday, October 6thAOL, Yahoo to merge by October's end?
AOL and Yahoo have revived and even accelerated merger talks and may be ready to strike a deal by the end of October, say alleged sources of TechCrunch. The claimed proposal would have Yahoo pick up all of AOL's content business as well as a $2 billion cash infusion in exchange for a one-third Time Warner stake in the resulting company.
The move is prompted in part by a strong desire from Time Warner to sell off or otherwise monetize its struggling AOL business, according to the claim. For Yahoo, the deal would let its ad network expand out to AOL's websites and give the company a competitive edge against Microsoft. Both would also have a greater edge in e-mail as well as instant messaging.
The deal potentially raises antitrust concerns, as Yahoo's recent ad deal with Google gives the latter increased control of the business and would potentially involve the firm with AOL as well.
Filed under: industry
Other story tags: Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AOL
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I dunno...
It's very hard to understand how Yahoo will benefit in the long run by tying itself to one of the most outdated, irrelevant players in the industry (AOL) or to the largest (as in most bloated and out of touch) media company on the planet (Time Warner). Oh well...
wow.
Like cutting off your nose to spite your face, Yahoo may be marrying AOL just to escape the clutches of that psycho Microsoft!
Indeed
When was AOL last relevant? 1998? Yahoo! is a little more recent (very charitably say 2006). Watching these failed companies try to revitalize themselves is either tragedy or comedy, depending upon whether you own stock or not.