From MacWorld UK's Microsoft may buy Yahoo and AOL if the latter two merge:

One reason Yahooโ€™s stock is as high as $19 is because of the extra revenues it says it getting from the Google deal. Yahooโ€™s stock could plunge to say, $15, if the Google deal gets rejected.
...
While Yahooโ€™s founder and CEO Jerry Yang has made it clear he does not want to merge with Microsoft, itโ€™s obvious a deal with AOL is more palatable...
Moreover, AOL appears more desperate than ever to do a deal. Its business has continued to deteriorate. Time Warner said AOLโ€™s ad revenues declined 16 percent to $1.1 billion in the most recent quarter...


I'm lost. Why do two losers make a winner? This is the karma for giving up on Netscape, AOL!!! ;^)