• WSJ, Thursday, November 10, 2005 12:55 PM

Yahoo! has pulled out of the race for a stake in Time Warner's America Online, the Wall Street Journal reports, leaving Google and Microsoft to fight over a piece of the Web portal. Always the least likely of the big three to make the buy, Yahoo! said it approached Time Warner Chief Dick Parsons in late October but decided to pass once he laid out the terms of the deal. According to a few anonymous tips, Google and Microsoft are neck and neck in the discussions; Time Warner is expected to select its new partner as early as next week. Apparently, Microsoft talks have taken several steps back recently, as Time Warner worries about the possible antitrust implications of combining the two businesses, and wonders how MSN would fit in. The winner gains access to 110 million unique users per month and real estate worth about 10 percent of the online ad market.

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