News Corp "unlikely" to team with Yahoo

Fox's parent company News Corp. is unlikely to link up with Yahoo and offer an alternative to a Microsoft takeover, says News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. Speaking at the Sun Valley conference, the executive claims that the likelihood of any deal is now slim despite early talks after Microsoft had first announced its plans to buy out Yahoo. The latter search engine company has been eager to find a partner for a deal that would bolster its value and either deter Microsoft from making a purportedly undervalued bid.

However, Murdoch also dismisses the likelihood that Microsoft will make a play for Yahoo even after its looming shareholders meeting on August 1st, which sees investor Carl Icahn threatening to oust the Yahoo board for a slate more friendly to being bought out by Microsoft. The News Corp head estimates that Microsoft will simply "walk away" from any deal, including partial ones, within six months due to the acrimony between the top officials at either firm.

"There's bad personal feelings," Murdoch says.

Yahoo has lately been looking primarily to AOL for a saving deal, which most expect would fold AOL into Yahoo's website catalog in exchange for a partial stake in the project by AOL's owner Time Warner.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: Microsoft, Yahoo, Fox, AOL, News Corp.