Intresting internet merger/spinoff

[southsider2k5]

There is no debating that the AOL Time Warner merger was one of the biggest disappointments of the internet stocks craze. It was supposed to create the first of many marriages between old media and new. After that was announced rumors such as a Yahoo-Disney merger and many others started to fly, but never actually happened. Instead the internet stocks bubble burst and the whole thing never came close to expectations.

 

Well today on CNBC there is a rumor floating around that TWX is in talks to sell the AOL division to Microsoft. This is really intreaguing indeed, because internet access is one area where MSFT has failed miserably, and it would give AOL access to all of the consumer products that it always wanted access to when it mergered with TWX, except this time the consumers are much more correctly aligned IMO.

 

It will be interesting to see if this happens.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

There's hardly a day that goes by when someone on CNBC, be it Bartiromo, Insana or Cramer on his show, talk about what a disaster that merger was and when is TWX gonna wise up and dump AOL. I guess someone is finally listening.

[kapkomet]

Wow.

 

That's huge.

 

It means that TWX has decided that "old school media" and bringing up that part of the business is more lucrative.

 

And my stock options should go up.

 

[southsider2k5]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/15/M...2_HO542228.html

[Balta1701]

Is there any chance that regulatory hurdles could shut this down? Even though we have the incredibly lax Bush enforcement team running the government, would they allow Microsoft to buy up that much of an internet access company? Or is there any chance the Europeans could block the sale over on their side of the pond? They've already hit on Microsoft for anti-trust violations this year.

[southsider2k5]

Is there any chance that regulatory hurdles could shut this down?  Even though we have the incredibly lax Bush enforcement team running the government, would they allow Microsoft to buy up that much of an internet access company?  Or is there any chance the Europeans could block the sale over on their side of the pond?  They've already hit on Microsoft for anti-trust violations this year.

 

 

The thing is, neither one of these companies really does what the other one does well. AOLs big thing is internet access, and MSFTs is computer programs. Usually the big arguement made in front of anti-trust regulators is the marketshare arguement, and that really doesn't exsist here. The best arguement they could make is a horizontal monopoly, and I don't see the combination of AOL/MSFT controlling all levels of the internet, so I don't think that would get much play there either. I don't know what the Europeans use to base anti-trust suits, but I don't see this marriage getting held up in the US.

[Chisoxfn]

This actually could make some sense. Plus if AOL could integrate with Microsoft operating systems and programs, it could really help boost their internet security pitch they have been going for for some time.

 

It would also give Microsoft another way to gain market share of internet products, something they obviously failed with when it came to microsoft network (MSN). Is there dialup company still around?

[JUGGERNAUT]

There was a time when Netscape was among the leaders in browers. Then AOL bought them. Now Netscape accounts for < 4% of the market. Firefox has risen to 7%. Both are based on Mozilla designs.

 

If the Fed is serious about insuring competition then it should require AOL to sell off Netscape. What makes that all the more interesting is that the sell off might just mean Time Warner keeps it. Some DSL & cable companies have integrated their own browsers with their services. Time Warner still owns a signifcant % of the cable market in the US. Netscape would have value to them. I could even see them making a play for Firefox.

 

Time Warner's TNT is the #1 cable network in America.

[Chisoxfn]

Mozilla is made by the developers of netscape, IIRC. To top that AOL basically gave them free reigns to do what they please with Netscape and they turned it into Mozilla which has turned into an awesome open source web browser.

[Balta1701]

There was a time when Netscape was among the leaders in browers.  Then AOL bought them.  Now Netscape accounts for

 

If the Fed is serious about insuring competition then it should require AOL to sell off Netscape. What makes that all the more interesting is that the sell off might just mean Time Warner keeps it. Some DSL & cable companies have integrated their own browsers with their services.  Time Warner still owns a signifcant % of the cable market in the US.  Netscape would have value to them. I could even see them making a play for Firefox.

 

Time Warner's TNT is the #1 cable network in America.

Netscape was dismantled before AOL bought them through Microsoft bundling IE with Windows. Netscape's death was not AOL's fault.

[DonkeyKongerko]

AOL does not seem like a great investment for anybody at this time. I guess Microsoft is really just interested in AOL's large customer base. Google just raised a bunch of capital too, and there was speculation yesterday that they would put in an offer to AOL.

 

The idea of a big online service just doesn't seem right in today's ISP model. Broadband prices are going down, and AOL really messed up their entry into that market. With all the content on websites today, dialup is becoming much too slow for many Internet users.