Yahoo Could Merge With AOL This Week

Yahoo talks with AOL are further along than expected but has kept contact with News Corp as a backup.

Yahoo Inc is still in talks with Time Warner Inc over a potential deal to merge the search engine company with AOL. However, Yahoo wants to keep the door open to News Corp.

Discussions between Yahoo and Time Warner appeared to be further along than expected.

While the search engine company wants to keep talks live with News Corp, incase the AOL deal falls through, News Corp chief Rubert Murdoch said that a deal between his company and Yahoo are not likely to take place.

Time Warner and Yahoo have been discussing the terms of a potential deal in which Yahoo would merge its operations with AOL, and Time Warner would take a minority stake in the combined company.

Yahoo's annual shareholders meeting is scheduled on August 1, but some experts believe that a deal with AOL was unlikely to happen before then.

Yahoo plans to grow as an independent company which includes search ads by Google Inc and a potential sale of the company's Asian assets.