Citing multiple sources, FORTUNE magazine learned that Yahoo! is interested in rekindling AOL acquisition talks with Time Warner.  Last year, an initial bid faded after the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

Fortune describes the move as a tactic to "impress" Wall Street and pull some of the recent spotlight from Google, Yahoo's chief rival. On October 9th, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion. Since the purchase, Google has enjoyed considerable press coverage (including a special series in this publication) and a 10 percent jump in its stock price.

The AOL news comes as the latest in a string of Yahoo acquisition stories over the past year, including the quiet purchase of video editing and sharing site Jumpcut. In recent weeks, Yahoo purchased AdInterax, a rich media solutions provider. 

Yahoo has also been in negotiations to buy Facebook for around $1 billion, but as of mid-October, talks on that front appear to have stalled.

Also in October, Yahoo announced its third quarter revenues would struggle due to softness in automotive and financial services ad spending.  The announcement sent jitters through the online advertising community.  True to the warning, Yahoo disappointed investors with a sluggish earnings report on October 18th. Insiders at the company weren't pleased either.  "I'm not satisfied with our current financial performance," said Yahoo chairman and CEO Terry Semel.

On a brighter note, Yahoo released its new advertising services platform, codenamed Panama, earlier this month.