$1 Billion AOL Stake For Google Approved

[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Yuki Noguchi]
Time Warner approved Google's $1 billion investment in its America Online unit yesterday, a deal aimed at giving both companies a greater share of the burgeoning online advertising business. Company executives also characterized the deal, which gives Google a 5 percent stake in Dulles-based AOL, as an opportunity to cross-pollinate Time Warner's vast media library with Google's highly profitable online advertising business. As part of the deal, Google also will tap AOL's instant-messaging customer base of 43 million users, integrating it with Google Talk, a recently released product with far fewer users. That pits AOL and Google against rivals Microsoft and Yahoo, which next year plan to integrate their instant-messaging systems. Google will also be able to access more of AOL's content, such as music videos and television shows, through its media services.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR200512...
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* Bumpy Road Led to Alliance Of AOL, Google
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113512960036228044.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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* AOL and Google Formalize Partnership to Include Shared Selling of Ads
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/technology/21aol.html?pagewanted=all