RUPERT MURDOCH TO BUY NEWSDAY?

According to The New York Times, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has bid $580 million to buy a third New York-based newspaper, Newsday. News Corporation already owns The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. The deal would violate current FCC regulations and would require a waiver to be granted.

From The New York Times:

As he nears completion of a deal to acquire Newsday from the Tribune Company, Rupert Murdoch appears likely to pose the first significant challenge to the media ownership rule that the Federal Communications Commission recently adopted.

Even without Newsday, Mr. Murdoch was in the process of seeking waivers to continue to control two newspapers (The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post) and two television stations (WNYW and WWOR) in the New York area.

With those waiver requests pending at the F.C.C., the Newsday deal means that Mr. Murdoch must now apply for a waiver to own the two television stations and three newspapers in the same market.

The new rule, approved by a deeply divided commission in December, permits a company to own just one paper and one television station in the same city in the top 20 markets so long as there are at least eight other independent sources of news and the station is not in the top four. (The stations controlled by News Corporation are the fourth- and sixth-largest in the New York market.)

The architect of the rule, Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the commission, has made clear that there is a strong presumption against granting waivers.

The Newsday deal also becomes public as Congress takes up a measure that would restore the old ownership rule, which generally restricted a company from owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same city, unless the F.C.C. granted a waiver.

MORE MICROSOFT & YAHOO NEWS

Many analysts believe it will be very difficult for Yahoo to avoid the $31 per share Microsoft takeover bid as no new bids have emerged. Yahoo continues talks with other potential friendly partners including Rupert Murdoch's New Corp., which owns MySpace, and AOL, but deals with either seem like a long shot.

From The New York Times:

Can Yahoo avoid being gobbled up by Microsoft?

Many analysts say it is increasingly unlikely.

While some of those conversations [with potential white knight partners AOL and News Corp.] continue, no deal has emerged and a growing chorus of analysts and investors say it is improbable that anyone will come up with an offer that is more attractive to Yahoo shareholders than Microsoft’s, which was originally valued at $31 a share.

“It seems like Yahoo’s strategic options are relatively limited,” said Mark Mahaney, an analyst with Citigroup. “It is hard to see a scenario that could create as much value for shareholders as quickly as a Microsoft offer.”

From USA Today:

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer appears to be under rising pressure by big shareholders to make the $31-a-share opening offer stick. One reason: Paying $35 to $40 a share for Yahoo would drive down Microsoft's projected earnings through its 2011 fiscal year, says Robert Breza, tech stock analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Yahoo on Monday rejected the $31-a-share offer, giving rise to speculation that it is courting a white-knight investor, such as AOL or News Corp. (NWS), to help it stay independent. A source briefed on the matter says talks to sell a 20% stake to media giant News Corp. are highly unlikely to result in anything. The source requested not to be named because talks are ongoing.

A tie-up with AOL would boost Yahoo's online advertising efforts but be expensive to consummate, says Shahid Khan, principal analyst at IBB Consulting Group. "It may distract Yahoo from getting its own act together," says Khan.

Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, says reported talks with potential white knights are "a ploy to drive up Microsoft's bid offer." Lindsay expects Microsoft to hold firm for now at $31, then perhaps up the bid to $35 or $36 within two weeks. "The pressure will really be on Yahoo to accept," he says.

Ballmer's next move may be to rally big shareholders to back a hostile takeover bid, says David Mitchell, senior vice president of IT research at Ovum. That could take the form of a tender offer made directly to shareholders or a proxy fight to win control of the Yahoo board.