It is no secret that AOL has been under the microscope of Wall Street, Main Street, and even Silicon Valley. There has been growing talk that a deal could be in the air, and talk may ultimately lead to reality. The New York Times notes that Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes may be open to a deal or "whatever configuration makes it the strongest and the most valuable."
AOL's primary strategy is to expand its advertising on Platform A, which is a combination of advertising and technology companies that AOL has purchased over the years. Executives see the expansion of their advertising network as the only way to compete and have discussed spinning off the dial-up portion of the business.
Two years ago, Time Warner discussed a merger with AOL and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) for its online operation and has recently explored a potential deal of some sort with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Keep in mind, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) owns a 5% stake in AOL, so the world can still change rapidly.
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