"A takeover skirmish among three of the nation's largest online stock brokerages erupted over the weekend," according to the New York Times:

"E*Trade Financial made an unsolicited bid to buy Ameritrade Holdings on Friday for more than $5.5 billion in a letter to its board, according to executives involved in the talks. Ameritrade, meanwhile, has been holding secret negotiations to buy TD Waterhouse, the executives said. The boards, managements and advisers of all three companies spent the weekend plotting their next moves. Competitors like Charles Schwab also spent telephone time discussing where they might fit in..."

The bad news, of course, is that any kind of consolidation among the big online brokers will likely lead to an increase in fees, commissions and the overall cost of trading for the individual investor. Online trading volume has never returned to levels seen during the dot-com boom, so online brokerages are looking for ways to squeeze out more revenue.