A merger or sale of AOL may be under wraps, according to Reuters.
New York — Having been rejected by Yahoo, Microsoft Corp., under pressure to seek an alternative to buying part or all of Yahoo Inc., is pushing forward discussions over a deal with Time Warner Inc.’s AOL.
Time Warner Inc. is in separate talks with Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to sell its AOL LLC Internet division before Yahoo conducts its annual stockholders meeting on Aug. 1, according to a Reuters report.
Executives from Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL were scheduled to meet in Seattle Wednesday in their latest effort to advance discussions on a possible combination that could give the software maker an alternative to a deal with Yahoo Inc., according to people familiar with the situation.
Word of a meeting comes as a breakdown in discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo over the weekend, one that led activist investor Carl Icahn to step up efforts Monday to replace Yahoo’s board in an Aug. 1 shareholder vote.
The two companies have been discussing a possible deal for months as an alternative to Microsoft’s efforts to buy Yahoo, the Journal reported in its online edition Wednesday afternoon.
“Microsoft’s talks with AOL remain preliminary, with the shape of a deal yet to be sketched out,” the source said.
The arrangement of any deal is not immediately clear, though a combination of any of the parties is expected to redraw the landscape for advertising on the Internet.
Sources had earlier mentioned that an agreement with Yahoo would probably involve merging AOL with the Web pioneer, with Time Warner taking a minority stake in the combined company. A deal with Microsoft would likely be a sale of AOL, the sources said.
Yahoo and Microsoft have both intensified their respective deal-making efforts with Time Warner’s AOL, as a proxy fight looms less than three weeks away between Yahoo and investor activist Icahn, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
“The ongoing discussions between all the companies have recently picked up,” said the source.
Icahn earlier this week said he and Microsoft had formulated a deal to buy out Yahoo’s search advertising business that would have guaranteed Yahoo $2.3 billion in search revenue annually for up to 10 years assuming Yahoo’s audience remained intact and the parties renewed after five years.
Microsoft’s curiosity in acquiring AOL would serve to bulk up its display advertising business as well as gain more traffic to weaken Yahoo’s and Google’s position. The software company also needs to convince shareholders it has an Internet strategy independent of its so far unsuccessful pursuit of a Yahoo takeover.
A Microsoft deal with AOL makes sense if Microsoft’s goal is to increase traffic, said Allan Krans, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc. in Hampton, N.H.
“AOL is a strong third in terms of driving people to its Web site, so it could be a way for Microsoft to get some of the increased traffic that they are looking for,” he said. “That is really the goal for their online services division. They have the tools to monetize and attract advertisers; it is just a matter of getting people to their Web site to generate that revenue.”
“And merging with AOL would also be a good move for Yahoo,” he said.
“Yahoo has a lot of attractive Internet properties, like Yahoo Groups and Yahoo Finance, and they do have a significant number of users that do go to the site, so that is one of the primary value propositions in the acquisition,” Krans said. “With AOL, you do not have quite the same level of traffic, but it is certainly one of the premier Internet properties out there.”
Time Warner has been contemplating the sale of all or parts of AOL as the Internet unit tries to transform itself into an advertising-driven business to offset rapid declines in its dial-up Internet access operations. Time Warner is already working on splitting AOL’s advertising and access operations, which would make the sale of one or both easier.
Krans said the necessity to get a deal done before Yahoo’s shareholders meeting is because the landscape could change if investor and Yahoo shareholder Carl Icahn is successful in his fight to take over Yahoo’s board of directors.
“If Icahn has his way, you could see large changes on the board, and that would definitely change the direction of the company from focusing on a go-it-alone internal strategy to really marketing the company for sale and trying to negotiate with Microsoft,” Krans said.
Microsoft shares rose $1.05, or 4 percent, to $27.19 in late afternoon trading Wednesday, while Time Warner shares were up 80 cents, or 5.8 percent, to $14.72. Yahoo shares rose 87 cents, or 4 percent, to $22.41, while Google’s stock went up $15.44, or 3 percent, to $532.53.