UBS: Time Warner could spin off a stake in AOL this year

We have already seen several reports claiming that Google, MSN and Yahoo! were trying to acquire AOL from parent company Time Warner. We also saw AOL signing a major deal with Google which kind of prevented a similar deal with Microsoft.

The latest is that market analysts from UBS have claimed that Time Warner could possibly spin off a stake in online division AOL or merge it with another Internet company as early as this year.

However, Time Warner has denied having any such plans. A company spokesperson said: “AOL is not for sale nor do we plan to spin any part of it off. The company has a great new strategy and it’s working well.”

UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff in his report said: “We believe that the prospects for an outright sale of AOL this year are high as the Internet company tries to go global. The best way to do this is through a partnership or merger.”

Time Warner Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Bewkes had this to say: “Both Dick (Parsons, Time Warner Chief Executive) and I and the board are very optimistic about what they’re going to do, which does not lead us to be thinking about taking AOL anywhere.”

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