Yahoo still looking into AOL deal?

Yahoo is still entertaining the prospect of a full deal with AOL even in the wake of ending talks with Microsoft, alleged sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Those claimed to be aware of negotiations say AOL's parent company Time Warner is still interested in handing AOL to Yahoo in exchange for a minority stake in the search engine company. The talks aren't said to be as in-depth as when Yahoo still faced the threat of a hostile Microsoft takeover.

The move would give Yahoo's advertising and content sides a boost and would help assuage shareholders worried about increasing the company's value, although it would also create conflicts between competing services, such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

Separately, the newspaper's sources also expand on new possiblities of a joint bid between Microsoft and News Corp. for Yahoo. Microsoft would again take Yahoo's core search business but would compensate for the deal by having News Corp. fold MySpace into Yahoo, giving the latter one of the largest social network sites.

Time Warner has also reportedly been discussing a deal between itself and Microsoft, although this would be to expand Microsoft's influence on web ads and search without Yahoo's help.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: Microsoft, Yahoo, MySpace, Time Warner, AOL, News Corp