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Google Reportedly Offering To Take A $1 Billion Stake In AOL

Google Inc. has entered exclusive negotiations with America Online Inc., offering $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in the Internet portal, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The move essentially shuts out Microsoft Corp., which had been talking to AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc., since January, the newspaper said.

The deal under negotiations would allow Google to collect revenue from ads that accompany the search results it would provide across AOL's properties, the Journal said, quoting a person close to the talks. AOL would sell display ads across Google's network of Web publishers.

Google also would include links to AOL properties among sponsored links in search results, and would continue to provide search to AOL for an additional five years, the newspaper said. The current contract is set to expire at the end of next year.

If the deal were finalized, it wouldn't occur until after Time Warner's board meeting Tuesday, the Journal said.

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