Rupert Murdoch CEO of News Corp , spoke at Bear Stearns annual media conference today, weighing in on the U.S. economy. He said he's now "more pessimistic" about the economy. Though he also said that News Corp is well positioned to weather an economic downturn because only about 20 percent of the company's business comes from advertising, about half what it once was.
Murdoch also made news on Yahoo--which both Microsoft and News Corp have expressed interest in. Microsoft made a $41.4 billion dollar bid for Yahoo and Murdoch has been pursuing some sort of a deal that would allow NewsCorp's social network Myspace, along with other ones of its web assets, to be combined with Yahoo. But Murdoch made his intentions clear at the conference, saying, "We're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, which has a lot more money than us."
Time Warner has also reportedly been talking with Yahoo about combining it with its AOL division. Having both the media companies and the technology giants pursuing Yahoo says a lot about the convergence of media, entertainment, Internet, and technology. But Murdoch's insistence that he's not getting into any sort of bidding war also says a lot. He's not going to overpay, or in the heat of a bidding war, lose sight of the company's true value.
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