AOL is not for sale; AOL is for sale; AOL is partially for sale; the truth can't be pinned down. Reportedly, Google and Comcast are teaming up in an unforeseen partnership to acquire a minority interest in the fading dial-up superstar. Comcast might be attracted to the ISP aspect of the business, and certainly to AOL's entertainment assets. Google, no doubt, would be eager to lock up AOL's search traffic. They both want a piece of AOL's still-enormous audience. Five-billion dollars is a figure I've seen tossed around; if in the ballpark, Google is making bold use of the approximately seven-billion dollars of cash it is holding after the second stock offering.
