Yahoo Clears Path to AOL Talks

The Financial Times is reporting that Yahoo’s new board on Tuesday cleared the way for new discussions with Time Warner over its troubled AOL unit, which could revive negotiations for some kind of combination of the two portals that ground to a halt earlier this year.

“According to one person familiar with the company’s thinking, the Yahoo board approved a new round of discussions with AOL, though active deal negotiations are not underway at this stage.”

The report said that Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes hoped to reach a decision on AOL’s future “fairly soon,” though he did not lay out a definitive timetable. This move would clear the way for uninhibited merger and acquisition talks, and would represent another prong of Yahoo’s multi-faceted, still-emerging plan to prove it can survive without Microsoft.

(Image credit: Reuters)

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