(11 November 2005 1:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Yahoo Inc. has dropped out of talks with Time Warner over AOL stake purchase. Now, Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. are the only two potential bidders left in the fray.

A Bloomberg report has quoted company spokeswoman, Joanna Stevens, as saying that " Yahoo passed on taking a stake in America Online or buying the business outright since the company thought it would face difficulties in integrating the two companies."

Earlier this month, Time Warner chief executive, Richard Parsons had revealed that the company was having serious discussions with a number of potential partners on selling, stake in AOL. Reportedly, the company held discussions with Redmond, Washington-based, Microsoft and with Google. The Bloomberg report suggests that the US cable major Comcast is also in discussions with Time Warner for a stake in AOL.