Google this: AOL still up for grabs

DESPITE claims from Time Warner that AOL is not up for sale, Google and Comcast are apparently locked in discussions about buying at least a bit of it.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google and Comcast want to write a $5 billion cheque to buy the a minority stake in AOL.

They are apparently interested in AOL's network of Web sites, such as the AOL.com Web portal and AOL Instant Messenger, rather than its dying dial-up Internet business.

If the pair do grab a stake in AOL they will be able to get access to AOL's large audience and its content offerings, such as concerts, drawing more consumers and advertising to their Internet services.

AOL and Microsoft are also talking about some kind of joint interweb deal, and if the Google, Comcast deal goes ahead this will have to be scrapped.

The Wall Street Journal says that if Google and Comcast beat off the Vole and get the deal, it would cause problems for Yahoo's advertising revenues too.

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