October 30, 2006 1:27 PM PST

Yahoo trying to buy AOL, report says

by Elinor Mills

Yahoo recently talked with Time Warner about the prospect of acquiring AOL, according to an article in Fortune.

"Fortune has learned from multiple sources that Yahoo recently approached Time Warner (parent of Fortune's publisher) about buying America Online--essentially trying to jump-start talks that broke down a year ago," the report says. "A source close to Yahoo disputes that Yahoo approached Time Warner and says that there are no active conversations between the two companies." A Yahoo-AOL merger would be a "face-saver" for Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, who lost out on a deal with AOL last year. For $1 billion, Google got a 5 percent stake in AOL and became its exclusive Internet search provider.

Fortune quotes an unidentified Time Warner spokesman as saying, "Time Warner has a new strategy for AOL and is not contemplating any deals."

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.

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