AOL Wooed By Comcast, Google
Search giant Google and cable giant Comcast are reportedly negotiating to purchase a stake in Time Warner’s America Online unit, according to the Wall Street Journal. This follows on the heels of recent reports that Microsoft was interested in investing in AOL in a deal that would merge the MSN Internet portal with AOL. Those talks reportedly stalled in late summer.
Still an online powerhouse with millions of subscribers, AOL has been losing its core dial-up Internet service customers to higher-speed cable providers like Comcast and DSL providers like SBC. But even as its overall sales dipped 4 percent in the second quarter, advertising revenue made a 45 percent jump from a year ago and operating income increased by 33 percent. Companies such as Microsoft, Comcast and Google would be interested in AOL’s broad content portfolio and subscriber base.
Full article: internetnews.com
