The Wall Street Journal reports that AOL and several venture capital firms are in talks to buy Yahoo.

Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group are rumored to be in on the deal. Currently, AOL's market value is around one tenth of Yahoo's.

Rumors that the two companies were in talks to merge have been swirling for at least a few days, and still others say it's Yahoo who is looking to buy AOL. Neither company is willing to make an official statement at this time.

Yahoo personnel haven't yet been involved in these discussions, according to WSJ's sources. Because of the intricacies involved in such acquisitions, Yahoo may never be formally approached with an offer.

Yahoo itself instituted "poison pill" mechanisms back during its apex in 2001 to prevent the threat of a hostile takeover — which became a very real possibility two years ago when Microsoft issued an unsolicited bid to buy the company.

Nevertheless, these new rumors are interesting. What do you think of AOL's ambitions, especially in light of the company's recent acquisition spree involving tech blog TechCrunch, app maker Thing Labs and video network 5min?

More importantly, do you think an alliance between these two fading powerhouses from the dotcom era could create a more vital, competitive organization? Let us know what you think in the comments.