If Yahoo & AOL Merge, Will They Turn to Google for Search?

Yahoo said the deadline for nominations would be 10 days after it announces the date of its annual shareholder meeting. The previous deadline was March 14.

In a statement, Yahoo said the extension would allow its board "to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for stockholders without the distraction of a proxy contest."

While Silicon Alley Insider doesnt think the deal will happen"despite it making sense for both Yahoo & AOL"theres another consideration, that Ive not seen discussed.

If AOL and Yahoo merged, would Google take over their search business? Look at this

The Times, citing unnamed people close to Yahoo, said a Yahoo-AOL combination has the backing of Google Inc., which owns 5 percent of AOL LLC. and fears a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo.

Ah yes, Google does indeed own 5% of AOL.

Heres where it doesnt make sense. An AOL/Yahoo merger should allow the two companies to better challenge Googles search dominance. So why is Google backing the deal"and not scared of the challenge?

My guess is that if AOL and Yahoo merge, theyll agree to hand off the search business to Google and instead focus on their portals and web tools.

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