News Corp Gives Up The Fight For Yahoo

Rupert Murdoch is reported to have said that News Corp won’t fight Microsoft for Yahoo.

Talking to investors at the annual Bear Stearns Media Conference, Murchdoch said that “We’re not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, which has a lot more money than us.” Murdoch also gave support to Google as FIM’s ad provider: “We’re very happy to be in the Google camp. They sell our search advertising and pay us well for it.”

This comes in stark contrast to what we’ve heard behind the scenes – that News Corp submitted a formal big to Yahoo just a little over a week ago, and have been openly claiming to be negotiating with Microsoft to take over their Google advertising deal.

With News Corp not wanting to get in the way, Yahoo’s last chance of heading off Microsoft’s offer now rests with Time Warner. Murdoch did not rule out another type of deal with Yahoo, but given Microsoft’s increasingly hostile takeover offer, the chances of News Corp being involved in any deal with Yahoo given these comments looks slim.