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 Media moghul Rupert Murdoch, who had denied being interested in Yahoo is believed to have initiated talks through his News Corporation with Yahoo about a possible deal to help the global internet services firm checkmate an unsolicited bid from Microsoft, which it turned down on Monday 11 February for undervaluing the Yahoo brand, investments and future potential. (See: Yahoo plans alternatives as board weighs Microsoft offer)
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, News Corp was keen on a possible amalgamation of its web properties MySpace and other interests with Yahoo. News The Wall Street Journalreport says News Corp could acquire up to a 20-per cent stake in Yahoo under a possible deal that would allow it to retain its independence while staving the Microsoft offer. Corp's media ownership includes the recently acquired Dow Jones, the publisher of US-based The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Sun and the The Times of London as well as MySpace and a 39-per cent stake in BSkyB. In all, News Corp, which has a market value: $60.2 billion and an annual profit: $4.45 billion also owns or has commercial interests in over three dozen media properties. Microsoft is keen to acquire merger with Yahoo to be able to compete better with internet advertising market leader Google, which has an around 80 per cent share in the $40- billion web advertising market, expected to double in the next three years. (See: Microsoft's Yahoo gambit: For a fistful of dollars) Accordingly on 1 February 2008 Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase Yahoo shares at $31 per share, amounting to $44.6 billion for all the shares of the web company (See: Microsoft makes $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo!) - a bold gamble at a 62-per cent premium, outlining plans to incur debt for the first time in its history to fund an acquisition. (See: Microsoft makes $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo). A possible deal between News Corp and Yahoo could either force Microsoft to withdraw its unsolicited acquisition offer or launch a hostile meger.
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