Report: News Corp offers MySpace for Yahoo stake

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The deal would put MySpace's value at between US$9.4 billion and US$11.3 billion

By Juan Carlos Perez | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Friday, 22 June, 2007

News Corp recently discussed swapping its MySpace social-networking site in exchange for a large stake in Yahoo, according to published reports.

However, the status of the discussions remains uncertain because News Corp made the proposal before Terry Semel resigned on Monday as Yahoo's chairman and CEO, according to reports published by The New York Times and the UK Times.

Both newspapers attributed the information to anonymous sources. The New York Times reported that News Corp discussed with Yahoo the idea of giving up MySpace in exchange for a 25% stake in the Sunnyvale, California internet giant. Meanwhile, the UK Times said News Corp told Yahoo it wanted a 30% stake for MySpace.

With Yahoo's market capitalisation at US$37.7 billion (NZ$49.4) mid-morning Wednesday, the deal would put MySpace's value at between US$9.4 billion (NZ$12.3 billion) and US$11.3 billion (NZ$14.8 billion).

News Corp bought MySpace along with other internet properties for US$580 million when it acquired Intermix Media in July 2005.

The UK Times, which is owned by News Corp, reported that its parent company is interested in the Yahoo stake as a way to gain "exposure to a far larger internet-based business."

The New York Times characterised News Corp's overture as "informal" and as a "loose proposal" that hasn't generated "meaningful negotiations." The UK Times called the discussions "tentative" and potentially closed now that Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has become its CEO.

Yahoo reportedly tried unsuccessfully to buy social-networking site Facebook for US$1 billion last year. In May of this year, the UK's Sunday Telegraph reported that Yahoo had expressed interest in buying social-networking site Bebo for the same amount.

Yahoo executives have in the past year publicly acknowledged the company is weak in the social-networking space, ruled currently by MySpace.

In the US, MySpace attracted almost 80% of all visits to social-networking sites in April, followed in a very distant second place by Facebook with 11.5%, according to Hitwise. Bebo came in third place with 1.3% of visits. Yahoo 360, the company's social-networking site, took seventh place with 0.71%.

News Corp declined to comment about the newspaper reports. Yahoo didn't immediately respond to requests seeking comment.