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Time Warner to split AOL in two?
Divide to open doors to suitors?

By Marguerite Reardon

Published: Tuesday 05 August 2008

Time Warner has taken a step closer to splitting up AOL's business, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Time Warner is expected to announce this week that it has completed the internal process of separating AOL's dial-up internet access business from its advertising business, the newspaper said.

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Time Warner has been talking about splitting the company into two different entities for a while now. It has been a main focus of Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes, who took over as CEO seven months ago.

Time Warner has been examining several options with respect to splitting up the company, including selling off both pieces of the business or partnering with other companies.

But separating the business has been difficult as it faces problems with dividing revenue and staff. Earlier, Bewkes had said he expected to have the process completed by the end of the second quarter. Time Warner will announce second-quarter results on Wednesday.

Once the separation of AOL's advertising-content and dial-up businesses is concluded, it may aid potential suitors like Yahoo! and Microsoft in sizing up an offer price.

Yahoo! reportedly turned to Time Warner and its AOL division as a potential white knight, after Microsoft announced its unsolicited bid for the company in February.

AOL has continued to talk with Yahoo! as the on-again-off-again Yahoo!-Microsoft buyout talks plodded along, and later expanded to involve a potential AOL-Microsoft deal.

In the past few weeks, the hubbub of an AOL-Yahoo!, or AOL-Microsoft deal has quieted down, following a truce between Yahoo! and its investor activist Carl Icahn, who was waging a proxy battle with the hope of pushing Yahoo! and Microsoft to do a deal.