View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/10/06/aol.yahoo.merger.rumor/
Monday, Oct 06, 2008 2:05pm
AOL, 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.