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AOL In Talks With Microsoft to Merge Online Divisions, Says WSJ

Posted by timothy on from the aol-needs-some-friends-at-smart-tech dept.

Ian Lamont writes "Microsoft executives are reportedly meeting with their AOL counterparts to discuss combining the two companies' online divisions. No one from either side is willing to comment, nor has the structure of the supposed deal been worked out. The original unconfirmed report comes from the Wall Street Journal (password-protected). A few months ago there was talk about AOL teaming up with Yahoo, but that never materialized." The free excerpt at the WSJ link above seems to say about as much as this Bloomberg wire report which refers to it, and the above-linked story at The Standard; this Reuters story indicates that AOL is still courting or being courted by Yahoo!, too.

9 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft and AOL... LOL by RudeIota · · Score: 5, Funny
    What better way to secure your future than merge yourself with a failing online business (AOL)?

    WTF is MS thinking these days...

    Welcome to Web 1.0...

    --
    Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
    1. Re:Microsoft and AOL... LOL by RudeIota · · Score: 5, Funny

      They haven't been a content provider for several years. Now they just make their money by billing your grandmother for service she canceled 10 years ago.

      --
      Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
  2. Hooray by genner · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hooray....Now I only have to hate one company,

  3. They aren't bankrupt yet? by Adreno · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... I would have thought my penchant for snagging all the free AOL disks I see and using them as frisbees, coasters, and arranging them in strange geometric designs on my wall (ad-side hidden) would have drained all of their resources by now. So sad.

  4. I see the future.... by Gat0r30y · · Score: 5, Funny

    AOL Account cancellation policy for MS' new subscription based access to Office.

    --
    Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
  5. My God... by mweather · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's like the perfect storm of suck. Maybe that's their business model: suck so bad that nothing, not even light can escape.

  6. The Google obsession by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Ballmer is completely fixated with trying to beat Google, if only in the very short term. Ballmer wants eyeballs and user base to be able to say:"Yes, I beat Google". Of course, in the grander scheme of things two sinking ships are still sinking and Google is only growing in market share. Further, Google has almost gotten big enough that it is bigger than the rest of the players combined so the window of opportunity to beat Google has slammed shut.

    Ballmer's craziness is also reflected in their other acquisitions. Why would they buy http://www.danger.com/ which has no integration with Windows Mobile? Only to make fight with Google's Android.

    MS supposedly cost $10bn to develop (depending on what sources you read) and MS was prepared to spend $40bn for Yahoo. Surely MS should be thinking of spending more on fixing their core business.

    Hey Ballmer, if you want to survive then you need to be less competitor focused and more customer focused. Don't let you megalomania divert you from core business.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  7. Re:AOLSoftHooMSN? by mark72005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hopefully AOL can do for M$ what AOL did for Time Warner.

  8. Re:America Non-Online? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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