This Wednesday Time Warner is expected to announce plans to divide AOL's dial-up-access business from its advertising and content business. This will enable the company to better gauge how profitable each division is, then sell one or both as it sees fit, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Some have suggested Time Warner may fold AOL entirely into Yahoo. A source said such a decision would be made after Yahoo's annual shareholders meeting, which took place Friday.

AOL has been a burden on Time Warner since its internet-access business began to wither some years ago. 2008 saw aggressive attempts to trim AOL's fat and highlight its potential as an online ad leader: news that its internet and ad divisions would be divided were first announced in February. Since then, its online ad networks consolidated, and niche websites launched to attract advertisers. In March AOL also purchased Bebo, a major social network in the United Kingdom.

Time Warner's Q2 results will be announced Wednesday. Investors will likely scrutinize its earnings to determine whether AOL's efforts have improved its profitability.

The business is valued at $2 billion to $3 billion by analysts, but Time Warner will likely pursue more than that if it sells. Despite its decay, AOL still hosts 8.7 million dial-up subscribers. (Earthlink, the second-largest dial-up provider, serves a distant 3.3 million — including broadband and web-hosting customers.)

News that Time Warner would divide AOL's internet-access and ad divisions arrives at a particularly volatile time for tech companies. In June Yahoo said it would reorganize — for the fourth time in two years. In July Motorola announced plans to cut its non-handset units into three sets. Microsoft is opting to divide its Platform & Services division in half.

And AOL is not the only weak branch in Time Warner's tree. In May it announced plans to separate Time Warner Cable from other assets.