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AOL, Yahoo Mulling Merger

Posted by Soulskill on from the do-i-get-a-vote dept.

Mike Zahalan writes with an update to last month's news that AOL and various private equity firms were exploring the possiblity of buying Yahoo. While talks between the companies have not officially gone much deeper, AOL has now hired financial advisers to analyze their options. Still, Kara Swisher writes at All Things Digital that the complexity of a deal between the two companies will be the biggest obstacle they have to overcome. "Among the issues being grappled with: Onerous tax implications around a variety of deals; a need for complete cooperation from too many players; and the realization that a hookup of AOL and Yahoo might cause more problems than it solves. 'It looks great conceptually and everyone gets all hot and bothered,' said one prominent investor who did his own strategizing about Yahoo and AOL. 'But when you actually do the numbers, you hit a pretty big wall of impossible.'"

4 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why Merge? by Meshach · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because 0+0=1!

    The merge will pump up all involved stock and make a lot of money for the stockholders. It may decimate the company's future but, as we learned from the SCO fiasco, that is a secondary concern.

    --
    "Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
    Aldous Huxley
  2. Wait... by Stregano · · Score: 3, Insightful

    AOL is still around outside of AIM? And they have enough money to buy another company?

    --
    The world is how you make it
    1. Re:Wait... by Macrat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ever heard of Engadget? TMZ? AOL owns them.

      That drops AOL's value even more.

  3. Re:Another garbage truck collision? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Anyone with a yahoo email account will fucking HATE it if AOL take control. They bought out my long-time provider, mail.com, and all the other squillion email domains that went with it, and they fucked up royally, losing screeds of emails, duplicating them n times, and the interface absolutely fucking sucks. It still sucks horribly, but you all know what it's like changing your "permanent" email address - nigh on impossible, so I'm stuck paying for sub-standard service. They've added new caps, the online interface won't run in any Opera simulation mode, and I STILL can't send mail with the acknowledge flag set.
    If we're really lucky, perhaps YAHOO engineers will prevail and kick the legions of sucky AOL technology out the door quick smart - I can only dream...