So, does this mean we'll start having graphical AOL banners on obner, too?
Source

Google acquires stake in AOL
Internet search giant to pay $1 billion for 5 percent stake in AOL; Microsoft shut out of deal.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc. and America Online Inc. Tuesday expanded their search and advertising alliance to include video and instant messaging, shutting out Microsoft Corp., which had fought hard for a deal with Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit.

America Online said Google had agreed to invest $1 billion to take a 5 percent stake in AOL, as part of an enhanced pact where Google will move beyond text-based advertising to allow AOL to sell graphical ads to Google's fast-growing ad network.

The stake effectively values AOL at $20 billion, a key benchmark should Time Warner elect to spinoff or sell a part of its Internet unit in response to dissident shareholder Carl Icahn's proxy campaign to break up the company.

Terms of the deal call for AOL to make more of its Web sites searchable via Google search, including a plans to feature AOL's premium video services within Google Video, a way of searching for Web-based video programming.

They also said they had agreed, under certain unspecified conditions, to allow users of Google's recently introduced instant messaging system Google Talk to communicate with users of AOL's market-leading AIM instant messaging service.

Ahead of the announcement, analysts called the new agreement a major defensive win for Web search leader Google, depriving Microsoft (Research) of a major customer that would have jump-started its push to compete with Google in the online ad services market.

In a letter to Time Warner's board of directors released Monday, billionaire investor Icahn labeled the potential AOL-Google deal as "disastrous" because it may rule out potential future deals AOL might do with Google rivals such as eBay Inc. (Research) or Microsoft.

Shares of Google (Research) edged lower in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq Tuesday after closing at $429.74. Time Warner (Research) shares edged higher after the bell after closing over 1 percent higher at $17.74 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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I mean, I can understand Google buying the stock to get AOL to let them use AIM in their client, but c'mon, graphical ads? the whole point of Google ads is they're supposed to be non-intrusive. I hope you have to buy a specific graphical package so we don't see them start popping up here all the time.

Google has been doing graphical ads for a while now, they're just not that popular, limited to a few sites. This will probably be limited to the same few sites.

I think Google hires an average of 15 people a day.

Employees also get free lunch.

"The stake effectively values AOL at $20 billion"

By the way, this is nuts. There once was a time when companies could be valued by either the sum of their assets and liabilities or by a dividend-based valuation. It was quantifiable. Now, it's just sorta worth what folks will pay for it. That's scarier than most folks probably realize.

Preach on. Back when I was in a band and a drunk asshole, my dick was valued at 2.5 8-balls. Now that I'm older and nice(er) and bandless, I would doubt a .25 8-ball evaluation. Same dick. It's all "brand" value these days.

one of you is pursuing an MBA and the other of you is just donkey nuts.

And when cock values are out of line, what's next???!! Make a stand, people.