Murdoch: Microsoft won't get Yahoo

 

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By Barry Collins and Reuters

Posted on 11 Jul 2008 at 08:22

News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch claims Microsoft's prolonged courtship of Yahoo will still end in failure.

Asked whether he thought Yahoo would end up in Microsoft's hands, he said, "There won't be a deal. There's bad personal feelings."

Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo earlier this year for $47.5 billion, but withdrew its offer in May. Chances of a deal were revived when Microsoft said it would be willing to restart negotiations with Yahoo if a new board - led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn - was in place.

Yet, Murdoch remains pessimistic about the chances of a takeover. "In six months, (Microsoft) will walk away," Murdoch said at the annual Allen & Co media and technology moguls confab.

News Corp has reportedly been on the sidelines of recent discussions involving Yahoo. But Murdoch said it was "very unlikely" his company would be involved in any Yahoo deal.

Shortly after Microsoft offered to take over Yahoo, News Corp held talks with Yahoo to combine its popular MySpace with Yahoo and separately discussed a possible deal with Microsoft to take over Yahoo.

Murdoch said one of Yahoo's biggest investors, Capital Research, whose portfolio manager and legendary media insider Gordon Crawford publicly chastised Yahoo for failing to secure a Microsoft deal, would have gladly settled for a buyout at $33 per share. "He's pissed he didn't get $33," Murdoch said of Crawford.

Would Crawford have backed a deal to sell Yahoo for $33 a share? "He would have taken it in a flash," Murdoch said of the price that Microsoft last offered before it walked away from talks with Yahoo.