Comments for "One Mammouth Online Company?"

My goodness, might we be looking at one, huge online company called MSN, eclipsing half the marketplace?

Check this out:

Microsoft in AOL stake talks: source
Sep 15 10:44 AM US/Eastern

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have been in business discussions over the past several months regarding Internet search and advertising networks, but not a joint venture, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

"There have been talks on ways Microsoft and AOL assets can be better leveraged and they've taken place over the normal course of business...," the source said, calling reports of a joint venture between the two companies "way overblown."

The source said nothing was "imminent."

Time Warner declined comment. Microsoft was not immediately reachable.

Various discussions between the two companies started some two years ago after the two companies settled a long-running antitrust suit that America Online, a unit of Time Warner, filed against the software giant, the source said.

Time Warner has been under pressure to boost its stock price, which has fallen 70 percent over the past five years. Corporate raider Carl Icahn this week said he planned to seek one or more shareholder-nominated board seats at the company to force changes.

Icahn has demanded the company raise its stock buyback to $20 billion, from Time Warner's existing commitments of up to $5 billion, and completely spin off its cable division.

Time Warner and Microsoft were said to be in talks on a joint venture combining AOL with MSN in an unconfirmed report published by the New York Post on Thursday.