Posted on Monday, December 19 2005 @ 0:31 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Last week Time Warner ended talks with Microsoft and entered into exclusive negotiations with Google over a $1 billion investment and a broader advertising partnership with AOL.
Shutting out Microsoft sets the stage for a high-profile agreement between two titans of the Internet. Under the deal, expected to be announced as early as next week, Google would get a 5 percent stake in AOL, implying a $20 billion value for the unit, said one official with direct knowledge of Time Warner's negotiating position.
Google, which operates the Internet's dominant search tools, also agreed to highlight AOL's Web properties as sponsored links and integrate AOL's video clips in its fledgling Google Video service. In exchange, AOL will continue providing Google's search engine to its subscribers.
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