I’m sure you’ve heard rumors about a Microsoft + Yahoo deal in the past. The talk comes and goes and has been for years. Well… they’ve resurfaced again. The Washington Post reports that both The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal are running separate stories about the proposed talks.

According to all of these sources, Microsoft has resurrected the possibility of buying Yahoo for $50 billion. In the past, Yahoo has rejected such offers. Some speculate that the companies might be talking collaboration as opposed to acquisition. Not surprisingly, nothing has been confirmed by any party involved.

At this point I’m not going to add to the speculation. But I will say this: I honestly don’t see a merger helping either of these companies. Even when you combine their market share, Google still has twice as much. I guess the thinking is that with their combined resources they’d be able to pull of something that neither could do alone.

We’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.

But Microsoft and Yahoo aren’t the only ones talking acquisition today. The Washington Post is also running an article on AOL. According to Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, people are coming out of the woodwork offering to take AOL off of his company’s hands.

Parsons says he’s happy with the way AOL is working and the way that it fits into his company. But he also said he’d never rule out the possibility of a sale:

“I can’t even go to the local hardware store . . . that some private-equity guy doesn’t jump out from behind the bin with some proposal. But we like the construction of this company,” he said of AOL.

However, when asked whether he would rule out selling AOL, he said, “I would never categorically rule out anything.”

AOL has entered into what some are speculating is a rebuilding phase of its business. Since a lot of Internet users can remember, AOL has been a way to access the Internet. For many years it sat a top a long list as the biggest ISP in the United States. Recently, however, AT&T took over the spot as AOL fell into the third spot.

Regardless, AOL has been seeing significant gains in its advertising department. And despite losing over 1 million Internet service customers, AOL recently pulled out a decent quarter with the help of revenue from that advertising department.

So am I surprised that acquisition eyeballs are zeroed in on AOL? Not at all. Am I surprised that Time Warner is holding out on letting AOL go? Again… no. AOL is not just a big brand. It’s also a massive user base. The vast majority of Time Warner’s business revolves around getting eyeballs on their products. AOL is a lot of eyeballs.