Washington – News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch has been discussing a deal to swap his My Space social-networking site with Yahoo for a one-quarter stake in the Internet portal – even as he pursues his $5 billion offer for Dow Jones.
The talks with Yahoo are preliminary and began before chief executive Terry Semel resigned Monday, said a source familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion is ongoing.
It is unclear whether the talks will move forward under Semel’s successor, Jerry Yang.
Murdoch bought MySpace and a group of other online properties in summer 2005 for $650 million. Yahoo was valued Tuesday around $37 billion.
By trading MySpace to Yahoo, Murdoch would lose total control of the site but would gain access to Yahoo’s much larger audience, which averages 100 million unique users a month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
Meanwhile, Murdoch continues his efforts to buy Dow Jones and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones’s board of directors is scheduled to meet today.
Murdoch, who has offered $60 per share, has said he wants to protect the Journal’s editorial independence while integrating the paper into his media empire, which includes Fox and the New York Post, and distributing its journalism around the world. His company plans to start a Fox business news channel later this year to rival CNBC.
Some members of the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones, have been leery of Murdoch owning the Journal.
