SUN VALLEY, Idaho — News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch plans to skip making deals at this year’s Allen & Co. media retreat, dampening the five-day event renowned for big-time media and Web combinations.
“Not today, not this week,” Murdoch told reporters Wednesday morning on his way to the retreat’s opening breakfast.
Murdoch built his media and entertainment empire through dealmaking at Sun Valley and elsewhere, including last year’s purchase of Dow Jones Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Much of the talk at the retreat so far has centered on speculation over the next move in the complex takeover dance between Yahoo and its unbidden suitor, Microsoft.
Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang, who rejected a $33- per-share bid from the world’s largest software maker in May, saying the company he helped found was worth $37 per share, isn’t expected to arrive until today. And billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who owns about 4 percent of Yahoo and has been agitating for a sale, isn’t expected at all. Icahn reportedly bought his stake for $25 per share.
Microsoft dealmaker Henry Vigil, head of strategy and development, looked overwhelmed as photographers circled him when he arrived Tuesday. He did not answer questions from reporters.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is expected Friday.
Bill Miller, whose Legg Mason Capital Management owns just over 5 percent of Yahoo, said Icahn, who is trying to unseat Yang by taking over Yahoo’s board at its Aug. 1 annual meeting, would get more support if he promised to hold out for $33 per share.
The 26th annual conference kicked off Wednesday with a morning of closed-door presentations, starting with Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon .
Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes, Viacom boss Philippe Dauman and other bosses of old-line companies will want to keep an eye on Internet start ups as they try to recoup lost ad revenue that has shifted online.
