Given all of the speculation surrounding whether AOL [TWX] and Yahoo [YHOO] are being sincere in their talks, and the current mega-swirl in CBS’ [CBS] declining value, here’s an interesting notion:
Hey, Jeff Bewkes, why not sell AOL to Yahoo, and then buy up CBS? 
This would give Time Warner that pure broadcast play that it’s been itching for, and given their tumultuous partnerships with other broadcast entities, perhaps it is best for Time Warner to own it all. Of course, given the tough lesson that both CBS and Time Warner have learned about the volatility and excessive risk on depending on advertising, it would be prudent to act on other revenue streams, like commerce.
On the flip-side, all of the AOL-Yahoo noise is either drippy-drabby or just confusing. Why waste time on all of this and just let ‘em get it on? Yes, there is a lot of duplication/redundancy between the two companies, and certainly there is a strong sentiment against Yahoo’s board, given a lot of the less-than-good decisions made over the past few years. But perhaps the best course of action for everybody (and this includes shareholders, employees, and even the board) would be combine the two companies, cut out all of the redundancies, and then lay off 60-80% of the work force. At that point, you should have a fairly lean-mean-ready-to-go kind of company that can focus only on its remaining properties. The future for the combined company may very well be to remain a niche player in the online advertising space until purchased by another entity.
In fact, if either Microsoft [MSFT] or General Electric [GE] or even Time Warner comes back after the consolidation, it may be an excellent time to pick up the new AOL-Yahoo-wuzziz.
