Yahoo! start discussions with AOL
It’s been a little while since the “Microhoo” shenanigans of earlier this year where titans Microsoft tried to take over the struggling Yahoo!. Yahoo! haven’t really got too far since – a hoped-for ad deal with Google is struggling to get regulatory backing, and investors are worried.
Yahoo!’s latest plan to get the company back on track, however, is purchasing AOL from Time Warner. Sources have said that Time Warner want $10 billion for AOL, but Yahoo! probably won’t want to pay that much for a company whose name is synonymous with “internet for your mum”.
On the other hand, AOL does have a huge email and instant messaging userbase. Once merged with Yahoo!’s own systems, this would create a much bigger entity in the marketplace – one better-placed to take on Google and Microsoft. Speaking of Google, they own five percent of AOL, meaning that this deal could bring the search giant closer to Yahoo!.
Microsoft probably won’t make things easy for Yahoo!. They’re expected to offer Time Warner a counter-deal, which would put Yahoo! in a very difficult situation. Still, maybe Yahoo! will fight better when its back is well and truly against the wall. The company own many hugely popular web services like Flickr and del.icio.us, even if their core product – the portal – isn’t as well thought-of.
Yahoo! (via Marketing Vox)
Related posts: The European Union is investigating the Yahoo/Google ad sales deal – anti-trust action on the way? | Rumour: Talks back on between Microsoft and Yahoo! – again
