Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch blog is reporting that Yahoo will buy AOL this month. Given his track record with other companies being bought (*COUGH Digg *COUGH), it may or may not happen.
Yahoo is continuing its marathon merger discussions with AOL, sources close to the negotiations have whispered to us, and a deal could happen as early as this month. Is this just a rehash of the reported discussions in February and then again in April?
Yes and no. It’s clear that AOL’s parent company, Time Warner, wants this deal more than ever. What isn’t clear is whether AOL’s assets will fix any of Yahoo’s problems.
According to details, Yahoo would acquire AOL’s content, services, and advertising. Some of AOL’s content includes Engadget and AOL’s cash cow, TMZ. Time Warner has being trying to get rid of AOL for years, especially since it’s bringing down their total revenue for the quarter. AOL has been a money losing company ever since dail-up faded away in the early 2000s. AOL tried to move from Internet Service Provider to content provider by buying popular blogs like Engadget and TMZ and moved from their content outside the wall garden. AOL even went to free subscription. Still a money-losing company. Will Yahoo turn it around? Yes, providing that the deal goes through (If this is a real deal).