Google Inc. and Comcast Corp. are in discussions to buy a minority stake in Time Warner’s America Online, two sources close to the deal said on Wednesday.
An investment would set the stage for an alliance marrying Time Warner’s trove of programming and Google’s popular search and e-mail services with Comcast’s high speed Internet portal and experience in cable video distribution and telecommunications.
It would also create a powerful new challenge to Internet media company Yahoo Inc. and software giant Microsoft Corp..
But Google and Comcast face competition from Microsoft, which is holding serious talks of its own with AOL, one source said.
Time Warner and Comcast declined comment on a possible deal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal. A Google spokesman declined comment on the talks, saying simply, “Google and AOL have a healthy global partnership and AOL remains a valued partner.”For details click here.