Verizon Said to Approach AOL About Possible Takeover

Verizon Said to Approach AOL About Possible Takeover(bloomberg.com)

21 points by slckfielder08 11 years ago | 14 comments

sinemetu11 11 years ago |

"Verizon hasn’t made a formal proposal to AOL, and no agreement is imminent, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private."

I'm calling bullshit.

eli 11 years ago | |

The leak and its timing is curious, but Bloomberg didn't invent this story. It's coming from one of those companies.

fiatmoney 11 years ago | | |

Or from an associated bank, law firm, etc.

rab_oof 11 years ago |

If this were so, the single biggest champion of net neutrality in monetary terms would be silenced by one of its biggest villains.

nullc 11 years ago |

Wasn't there previously a famous takeover of a media company by a communications company that didn't go so well?

doughj3 11 years ago | |

You mean this one?[1]

I think it worked out pretty well for them.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_NBC_Universal_by...

vampirechicken 11 years ago | | |

Obliquely, the AOL/ Time-Warner merger...

nemothekid 11 years ago |

So Verizon is becoming a content company as well, just like Comcast.

dpifke 11 years ago | |

...or they see the business of folks not bothering to cancel their AOL dialup account as complementary to folks not bothering to cancel their landline POTS.

wmf 11 years ago | | |

And now you can combine them onto one AOLrizon bill!

twelvedigits 11 years ago | |

AOL has built up a formidable arsenal of video ad tech in recent years. Surely Verizon is more interested in that rather than whatever clicky content AOL is shipping these days.

AznHisoka 11 years ago | | |

I'm ignorant - explain how it's useful? The cynical side of me thinks its useless without high quality video content, which AOL lacks. The greatest video ad tech sucks if you don't have the brand name sponsors, but those are only attracted to higher quality content.

bane 11 years ago |

Well they are more or less right down the road from each other.