The Changing Relationship of Google and AOL

I hopped over to Excite a few minutes ago to see if the site still existed (they do!) and this little bit of information caught my eye.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc. is in exclusive talks to pay $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in Time Warner Inc.'s online unit AOL, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. "Those talks include, among other things, a $1 billion investment for a 5 percent stake in AOL," said the source. This confirmed an earlier report on The Wall Street Journal's Web site.

What's this mean for the future of search? Chances are pretty good AOL won't partner with any other search provider and AdWords will still reign supreme. If I were Ingenio (AOL's pay-per-call provider) I'd either be really excited or really scared. When/If Google launches a pay-per-call service, Ingenio could be out. On the other hand, Google might just swoop in and buy the pay-per-call provider.

Google would pay $1 bln for a 5 pct AOL stake: source Reuters