The question mark is there to emphasis the fact that a potential acquisition of America Online by Yahoo is pure speculation as yet. Fortune has broken out the news and it has been both confirmed and denied from sources within Yahoo and Time Warner.

A Yahoo acquisition of AOL would be aimed at Google's position on the market compared to the Sunnyvale Internet giant. AOL won't push Yahoo into the leader's chair currently occupied by Google, but it will give it some leverage in its face-off with the Mountain View Company. Yahoo had carried out talks with Time Warner in the past over AOL, but - at that point in time - the discussions were not finalized.

An analysis of the market reveals that Yahoo's acquisition of AOL is fueled but Google's recent Internet successes with MySpace and YouTube. Yahoo's market value is estimated at $35 billion and the Sunnyvale Company owns an estimated $3 billion in cash and securities. AOL is worth approximately $13 billion, but nothing stops Time Warner from asking a lot more.

Google is currently AOL's exclusive Internet search provider, after it has acquired a 5% stake in AOL for $1 billion. Recent speculations that were also not finalized involved a possible Yahoo takeover of the social networking hotspot Facebook for $1 billion.