AOL just nabbed TechCrunch; why not add Yahoo to the mix? The Wall Street Journal reports that AOL and several private-equity firms are considering a bid to buy Yahoo.

Firms named by the Journal include Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group, but as many as three other groups might also be included. Somebody might want to tell Yahoo, though. The Journal said the talks are at the beginning stages and Yahoo is not yet at the table.

There are apparently several scenarios being floated around. One would have China's Alibaba Group buy back Yahoo's 40 percent Alibaba stake. Yahoo departments would then be sold piecemeal to various companies so the AOL-private equity group could come in and buy what's left for a much lower price.

Another option is AOL combining its assets with Yahoo in a "reverse merger" after Yahoo ditches Alibaba, the Journal said.

Last month, however, Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz said Yahoo had no plans to sell its stake in Alibaba, even though the founder of the Alibaba Group asks "constantly" if Yahoo is selling.

The news comes more than two years after Yahoo and Microsoft called off merger talks. In February 2008, Microsoft made a surprise $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo. The two sides never reached a workable agreement, however, and talks stalled.

A month later, Yahoo and Google announced a non-exclusive agreement that would allow the Internet company access to Google's AdSense for search and content advertising programs in the U.S. and Canada. That too was abandoned amidst regulatory concerns. One year later, Yahoo returned to Microsoft and agreed on a 10-year search deal under which Microsoft will power Yahoo's search site while Yahoo will manage the sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers.

Last month, AOL purchased technology blog TechCrunch. In the same week, it also acquired online video platform 5min Media as well as Thing Labs, which produces the Brizzly family of Web-based social software.