Dulles, Va. - Signaling the potential for a merger in the near future, Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) and AOL have been examining each others books over the past couple weeks, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters. The unnamed source said that the talks are focused on integrating AOL's content and advertising business into Yahoo, with AOL parent Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) receiving a stake in the combined company.

The two companies reportedly have engaged in various discussions for several months, beginning over the summer when Yahoo was looking to fend off Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) $47.5 billion takeover bid.

Another source, paidContent.org, however, reported that no deal is imminent.

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