About three weeks ago, Um was all about pushing Google (why was that blog allowed to lapse?) to acquire the New York Times, an action that–if we’d had it our way–could have set-up a pretty sweet confrontation between two media monoliths (the other being Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp). If only speculation worked like advertising.
And just as we were about to write-off any hope of such a head-to-head confrontation, comes this: On the heels of Microsoft’s $44 billion offer for Yahoo, the besieged second-place searchers have gone all bended-knee for Fox. According to the BBC, “[t]he Wall Street Journal said that News Corp was eyeing a move that would see MySpace and other of Murdoch’s web interests merge with Yahoo. Yahoo would give News Corp 20% of its shares under the alleged deal, allowing it to remain independent.”
The Times quotes one source as calling the deal a “long shot,” and points out that Murdoch’s people are “participating in the talks, in part, because, as one participant said, ‘there’s nothing to lose.’ Either News Corporation clinches a deal, or more likely, its interest pushes up the price of Yahoo for its competitor, Microsoft.” So this is pretty much–you know.
BUT. What if it does happen? What if News Corp and Yahoo do team up? According to a report posted on MSNBC, the deal would “push the Sunnyvale-based company’s market value toward $50 billion” a move that would certainly do something to prop up that company’s war chest if they should want to take a run at the meGa folks who currently sit atop the e-querying food chain.
Would the G-Folks sit idly by? Maybe. And even if they were to make some sort of responsive move, it would–for reasons already discussed–probably not be in the direction of Arthur Sulzberger’s office. Probably.
Stay tuned.
