• Reuters, Monday, March 19, 2007 12:01 PM

As many expected, Time Warner may be dressing up AOL for a sale as early as this year, a move that UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff in a research note said would boost the media giant's value. Time Warner says it has no such plans. "AOL is not for sale, nor do we plan to spin any part of it off," Time Warner spokesman Ed Adler told Reuters on Friday. "The company has a great new strategy, and it's working well."

An AOL insider told MediaPost otherwise, although no timetable has been set. The source said Time Warner plans to hold onto the Web company until its ad revenue growth begins to plateau, then spin it off. Time Warner's stock, meanwhile, recently enjoyed its first boost in several years, due, in part, to AOL's transformation from a closed-off ISP subscription business to a free, ad-supported Web portal. While the change has resulted in net revenue declines, ad growth has been high. It will continue to grow as more consumers adopt free services, like AOL email and AOL Instant Messenger.

Bourkoff said that compared to its rivals, AOL, at an estimated $17 billion, is undervalued; the UBS analyst attributes this to its attachment to Time Warner. Thus, a sale would also benefit AOL, especially as it tries to go global. Bourkoff said the best way for AOL do this is through "a partnership or merger" with one of the Web's big three: Google, Yahoo or Microsoft.

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