News Corp in talks with Yahoo - report
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NEWS Corporation is in talks to combine MySpace and other internet properties with Yahoo to fend off Microsoft's $US42.1 billion ($47 billion) bid, according to several reports.
One proposal under discussion would value the MySpace online social network at around $US6 billion to $US10 billion and would give News Corp (nws.ASX:Quote,News) a more than 20 per cent stake in a combined company, according to the Wall Street Journal website overnight.
News of the discussions were first reported by the Silicon Alley Insider blog, followed by the TechCrunch blog. A proposed deal would involve a cash infusion from News Corp and an unnamed private equity fund, according to TechCrunch.
Chairman and chief executive of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, has held on-again, off-again discussions with Yahoo over the past year.
News Corp is the parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au.
Responding to questions, Mr Murdoch told analysts and reporters on a conference call last week that his company was not interested in bidding for or pursuing any transaction with Yahoo.
News Corp declined comment overnight. A Yahoo spokeswoman also declined comment on the report and reiterated the company's position that its board of directors continues to explore its options.
"It is hard to imagine that Mr Murdoch would be willing to put enough cash in the deal to make it interesting to Yahoo shareholders,'' RBC Capital Jordan Rohan said.
Yahoo shares were up over 1 per cent at $US29.89 while Microsoft shares were up almost 2 per cent at $US28.89. News Corp shares were down less than 1 per cent at $US19.19.
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