Google and Comcast have reportedly joined forces and are in talks with Time Warner to buy a piece of America Online in what is likely a move to head off Microsoft, according to several people in the know, reports the New York Times. Microsoft is seeking a stake in AOL and was reported last month to have entered into talks with Time Warner, which was immediately thereafter approached by Comcast and Google.

(Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons today described reports of the talks as "market rumors," according to MediaPost, which also points out that Microsoft controls a 7.4 percent stake in Comcast.)

The maneuverings seem to be the latest manifestation of that old political adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," with AOL's two big rivals in instant-messaging, Microsoft and Yahoo, having announced yesterday that they would make their instant-messaging services interoperable.

Time Warner apparently wants to sell a minority stake in AOL to increase its stock price and hopes that a reconstituted AOL would sell shares to the public while it remains in control of a large internet company at a time when audiences and advertisers are shifting from traditional media to online.

Google wants to remain the search service on AOL's various offerings that reach more than 73 million users in the U.S. each month (according to Nielsen/NetRatings numbers), and Comcast wants to gain customers for its high-speed internet service by offering AOL content and marketing to AOL's dial-up subscribers. Microsoft's interest in AOL is mainly in expanding its new search business as the best way to counter the Google's growing influence.