I saw this on Oilman's blog.

I did a little more research and found this on CNN
CNN -Reporting MicroSoft, AOL or Google $20 Billion Dollar Deal?

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - Investors looking for something that will move Time Warner's intractable stock price, stuck between $16 and $19 a share for two years, should expect to be disappointed -- again.

All fall there has been talk about its AOL unit doing a huge deal with either Microsoft or Google that would value AOL at at least $20 billion -- triple what analysts value it at now. But it's not going to happen. A deal with one of the two will get done and will likely be announced within two weeks. But it will be radically scaled back and likely won't move AOL's valuation needle on Wall Street at all.

Google already works with AOL with content

Currently, Google supplies search and search related advertising to AOL as a subcontractor. AOL gets about $300 million a year from that arrangement; Google gets about $100 million. AOL wants an even bigger take and more importantly, to get more of its content into Google's search index. Because of AOL's years as a subscription-only service, most of its pages are still hard for search engines to find -- even now that most of the content is free.

It's interesting when the big guys are battling. It's also scary. Every time these giants get larger, they also get more control of the net. It makes it more challenging for the mom and pop internet businesses to make a go of it.

I guess we'll see as this mystery deal unfolds

Articles from December 2005
More articles from Year 2005

Comments (0)