Liberty Media Eyes AOL

NEW YORK, September 29:
Liberty Media is said to be considering swapping its stake in Time Warner in
exchange for control of AOL’s Internet-access business.

At an investor conference
in New York on Friday, John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media—which
holds some 103 million shares in Time Warner, with a value of $1.42
billion—told the Financial Times: "There have been limited discussions. Time Warner still needs
to divide the business."

Time Warner’s CEO, Jeff Bewkes, revealed last month the completion of preliminary preparations to
spin-off the Internet-access business from AOL’s content and advertising
segment. The separation is expected to be completed early next year.

Meanwhile, Yahoo!’s board
of directors has authorized management to embark on a new round of discussions
with AOL about combining their businesses.

—By Mansha Daswani