Technology, Culture, Commentary on the Internet Revolution

Yahoo Looking at AOL

by Jason on October 29th, 2006

There seems to be something in the water don’t you think? I mean Google buys YouTube for over $1.5B and that just puts everyone in the shopping mood. I guess it make sense though, there’s only about 55 more days until Christmas right?

FORTUNE has learned from multiple sources that Yahoo (Charts) recently approached Time Warner (Charts) (parent of FORTUNE’s publisher) about buying America Online - essentially trying to jump-start talks that broke down a year ago. A source close to Yahoo disputes that Yahoo approached Time Warner and says that there are no active conversations between the two companies. Regardless of which version is correct, a Yahoo-AOL merger would be a face-saver for Semel: Last year Google (Charts) outflanked Yahoo and swooped in to become AOL’s exclusive Internet search provider, picking up a 5% stake in AOL for $1 billion as part of the deal.

I don’t like this idea and it probably has more to do with how Duncan (thanks for the tip) feels about it as well. It just means one less player in the market to keep everyone on their toes. I’ve shared my thoughts before on AOL, and think that getting out of the ISP market and move purely into the content arena is exactly where AOL needs to be now. I believe they should really try to move themselves into any content that could be considered popular in America. The epicenter of pop-culture if you will. Really capitalize on becoming the idea behind being “America: Online”.

More Info: Yahoo’s dilemma: Deal or No Deal?

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POSTED IN: AOL, Business, Economy, Emerging Earth, Media, Music, News, Search, Yahoo