News Corp. Eyes Yahoo! Bid with Microsoft

NEW YORK, April 10: News
Corporation is said to be in talks with Microsoft about teaming for the Yahoo!
buyout bid, the New York Times
reported today.

The move would align
Yahoo!, MSN and MySpace to create a formidable competitor for search engine
giant Google. It has been two months since Microsoft first reached out to
Yahoo! with a $44.6 billion offer. Yahoo! has rejected the proposal,
maintaining it is too low, and has in the process been in talks with other major
media companies, including News Corp., about a potential tie-up. Microsoft has
threatened to initiate a hostile take-over of the company.

The Times reports that talks are still at a sensitive stage,
citing a source close to the discussions. “There’s a long way to go before
anything is definite,” one person involved in the talks said.

—By Mansha Daswani