AOL ready to be dealt in pieces; Who's buying?

Time Warner has reportedly completed its internal restructuring so it can officially separate AOL's dial-up business from its content and advertising assets. The split is likely to become official when Time Warner delivers earnings on Wednesday. The big question: Who is buying?

This move is a bit overdue. The Wall Street Journal reports:

For months, Time Warner has been exploring options for the two sides of AOL, including whether to sell or combine the businesses in a partnership with other companies. But talks have been held back by uncertainty about how revenue and liabilities would be split between the two sides, which complicated putting a value on the businesses.

Now Time Warner is signaling to potential buyers that the split is complete. A buyer will now know what it is getting.

So who's buying? Here's a look at some of the players.

EarthLink: The company is likely to be the buyer for AOL's dial-up business and the Journal has reported that the ISP is interested. Perhaps EarthLink will buy Microsoft's dial-up business too. EarthLink could then rename itself "Goingextinctbutgeneratinglotsofcash.com." United Online: This quirky company owns NetZero and could beef up with AOL's dial-up business. The pairing is unlikely given United Online has acquired FTD.

Microsoft: With the Yahoo deal on, then off and now mostly off the software giant is a leading candidate to buy AOL's content business. Microsoft wants scale and eyeballs. Microsoft wants content. AOL has both. AOL has a search deal with Google that could get sticky though.

Google: If the search leader really wanted to be a thorn in Microsoft's side it would gobble up AOL for giggles. Then Google would really be a display ad player. Yahoo: Without Microsoft breathing down its neck, Yahoo isn't likely to chase AOL. But you never know.