What Pundits Think Of A Potential AOL, Inc.-Yahoo! Inc. Merger

Merger talk concerning Yahoo! Inc. YHOO and AOL, Inc. AOL is nothing new, and last week, a new spin on the situation began to circulate.

Starboard Value, an activist hedge fund headed by Jeffrey Smith, recommended that the company acquire AOL in a letter.

"Yahoo's recent strategy of focusing on acquisitions has not worked," part of the letter read, and added: "Yahoo's stock price has merely been buoyed by the strong growth in value of Alibaba." Starboard also said an AOL merger could boost profitability at its core businesses, and thus, improve shareholder returns.

Smith isn't the first activist to come Yahoo's way (remember Dan Loeb?), so it's clear what he thinks.

But what do others in the media world have to say about everything?

Some were having fun:

Others not as much:

And one was simply underwhelmed:

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.