WSJ claims AOL is closing in on a deal with Microsoft

WSJ claims AOL is closing in on a deal with Microsoft

This might be bad news for the search engine market leaders Google. Wall Street Journal has reported that Time Warner Inc is closing in on a deal with Microsoft Corporation. The duo would be working on an online advertising service, which would be competing with Google’s revolutionary AdSense service. The media group cited individuals familiar with the talks.

WSJ also claimed that the companies were now busy focusing on a deal that would combine their advertising-related assets. This means that the deal is not expected to involve a significant amount of money changing hands. The deal is expected to be complete before the end of the month. However, nothing is confirmed right now and Google just might make a last attempt to snatch a deal with AOL instead.

Time Warner is undergoing talks with both Google and Microsoft. Yahoo! was also said to be interested in a deal with AOL but they backed out quite some while ago. Time Warner was initially interested in possible sale of a stake in the America Online unit though any deal now is expected to be based on a different principle now.

Investors have threatened to take serious actions if Time Warner end up signing a deal related to AOL, which valued the Internet provider too cheaply. And this means that Time Warner would have to be careful on what they ultimately decide to do with AOL. If AOL indeed decides to go along with Microsoft, it would result in big losses for Google as the web-based portal is expected to drop Google as its main Internet search provider.