Big Hitters Said to Want Piece of AOL

Google and Comcast are in talks with Time Warner to buy a portion of America Online. The joint bid was widely seen as a way to head off Microsoft, which has also been negotiating to buy a minority stake in AOL. The development means that Time Warner, which has long been under pressure by Wall Street to sell off its AOL unit, now finds itself in the enviable position of having multiple suitors, which may drive up AOL's value. Time Warner believes that any deal must value AOL at more than $20 billion. But the kind of minority stake Google and Comcast may be negotiating would have a lower value because it would involve only AOL's Web portal and content, and not its highly profitable but declining Internet dial-up business. Time Warner's decision to sell a minority stake in AOL is driven by its need to increase its sagging stock price, especially as it is being pressured to restructure itself by Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Saul Hansell]
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/technology/13message.html
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