By: Mark Fitzgerald When Microsoft first disclosed its hostile $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, Rupert Murdoch was emphatic that his News Corp. had no interest in joining the fight. "We're definitely not going to make a bid for Yahoo," he told analysts during an earnings call. "We're not interested at this stage."
Things have changed, apparently.
The Wall Street Journal joined a handful of plugged-in Silicon Valley bloggers Wednesday in reporting that News Corp. is in talks to spin MySpace and the rest of the properties of Fox Interactive Media into Yahoo. News Corp., together with an unnamed private equity fund, would also invest some $15 billion into Yahoo, according to these reports.
Murdoch's company would get a 20%-plus stake in Yahoo, becoming its single-biggest stockholder, reported the Journal and the blogs Silicon Valley Insider and Tech Crunch.
The deal would value Yahoo as a $50 billion company, higher than the current Microsoft offer.
"The negotiating team is said to be trying to iron out the details in the next 48 hours, in time for Yahoo's upcoming board meeting to review its options," Michael Arrington wrote on Tech Crunch.
Arrington added that Yahoo executives privately regard the Microsoft bid as a done deal. "Still, if News Corp. can somehow make a compelling offer (and getting a private equity group on board was a huge first step), Yahoo's board may recommend the deal to stockholders," he wrote.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here