Time Warner, struggling to stem the decline of its America Online (AOL) division, is reported to have held talks about selling the business to Microsoft.
Executives of the two companies are said to have met for discussions about a possible deal in the past few months. Time Warner lawyers have also been asked to overcome any potential roadblocks to the transaction from Washington, the New York Post reported.
The talks are said to have emerged from ongoing discussions between the two companies about ways to use Microsoft technology in Time Warner content businesses.
The firms have been working together since last May when they announced a US$750 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging the software firm had unfairly crushed AOL's Netscape browser.
Time Warner was severely bloodied by its merger with AOL four years ago.
Don Logan, a Time Warner veteran, now runs all of the subscription-based businesses at the company. He has made it clear that AOL is under the microscope and has no guaranteed future within the group if it cannot prove it has a sustainable business model. The company dropped AOL from its corporate brand name in October last year.
The internet service provider is trying to increase revenues in several ways; pushing a broadband product, piling on premium services, and adding a lower cost dial-up service. Last year, AOL lost 2.2 million subscribers, leaving it with 24.3 million.
Microsoft's MSN dial-up service has 9 million subscribers.
According to the Post, Microsoft would use its cash pile to finance the deal. It could also take a stake in the Time Warner cable network. Microsoft has already demonstrated its interest in cable by taking a US$1 billion stake in Comcast.
A spokeswoman for Time Warner rubbished the report. She dismissed the story as "entirely inaccurate." Microsoft declined to comment.
An earlier report in the newspaper said Time Warner had asked the investment bank Goldman Sachs to review options for the division, including a sale or spin-off.
It said that Time Warner's chief executive, Richard Parsons, was especially keen on pursuing a deal with Microsoft.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from
RSS