Reports are surfacing all over the place about Yahoo now wanting a piece of the AOL pie. AOL has been in negotiations with Microsoft for some time and recently, Google and Comcast a joint venture to go after a minority stake in AOL also. The real deal is that it’s all old news.
The Street reported the original story earlier today and then the Wall Street Journal picked up on it as well. All this happens weeks after the original story, broken by the New York Post talked about Microsoft and Time Warner discussing Microsoft taking over a 50% stake in the beleaguered online entity. Back in the original Post story, they mentioned Time Warner had also been in talks with both Google and Yahoo:
Talks are most advanced with Microsoft – Time Warner management’s preferred partner – but the media giant has also had discussions with both Yahoo! and Google over a sale or venture with AOL, according to a source close to Time Warner.
They pointed out then talks were in advanced stages with Microsoft. The only thing this may really mean is Microsoft may have to ante up a bit more moolah for the clincher. Many wonder whether or not Microsoft might be willing to overpay a bit in this deal but the fact is they’ve got a lot of cash to spend and if they get the deal over Google, then this could do some serious damage to Google in a number of ways.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
