Senior executives from Time Warner and Microsoft are heading up talks that could result in a deal before 2006.
Deriving a return on AOL is a top priority for Time Warner, its chairman Richard Parsons had said, and talks with Microsoft about a potential link-up came to an end. Now, it seems that deriving value from AOL doesn’t necessarily mean controlling it, just having access to it.
The Wall Street Journal now reports that those Microsoft talks have resumed, with sources close to the discussion noting a focus on combining AOL’s content and MSN’s search engine technology.
Highly placed executives with both organizations, Time Warner executive VP Olaf Olafsson and Microsoft senior VP Henry Vigil, helm the respective negotiating teams. One Journal source close to the discussions said “If you can’t get it done in calendar year 2005, then it’s probably not going to happen.”
Getting it done likely means a joint venture. The market could be receptive to such a prospect, as the Journal notes how Web companies are enjoying high stock valuations. That would make restless shareholders at Microsoft and Time Warner a little happier, at least while those valuations last.
Microsoft would derive a significant victory over Google if it were able to get AOL to partner with it. Google provides web search and advertising for AOL, and as much as 11 percent of Google’s ad revenue reportedly comes from that portal. MSN’s new ad network would replace Google in a joint venture with AOL.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
