The Wall Street Journal posted a story last night that has the tech world abuzz—Yahoo and AOL are closing in on a deal to combine their Internet operations, a move aimed at thwarting Microsoft Corp.'s effort to acquire Yahoo, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

This story came just hours after a New York Times report that News Corp. is considering adding its weight to Microsoft's side of the battle.

None of this is exactly new—in fact, last month a report went around that really, Yahoo is serious about AOL, but few listened. We have to step back and wonder what Google must think of all this negotiation nonsense. All we know is, we ran out of popcorn an hour ago and this movie still isn't over.

(Image credit: NYT)