News Corp. mulls MySpace, Yahoo share swap

updated 3:07 p.m. ET June 20, 2007

LONDON - Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is discussing swapping social networking Web site MySpace for a 25 percent stake in Yahoo Inc., The Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Times, which is owned by News Corp., said its parent was looking for exposure in a larger Internet-based business such as Yahoo.

News Corp. spent $580 million to buy MySpace in 2005.

Corporate officials at News Corp. and Yahoo Inc., both based in the United States, were not available for comment in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Based on Tuesday’s closing share price, Yahoo was worth $37 billion.

Yahoo has been losing out to Google Inc., whose shares have increased six-fold in value since 2004 while Yahoo’s share price has dipped.

Profit at Yahoo fell 11 percent in the first quarter, the company said Monday, and it warned that second-quarter results may be at the low end of expectations.

The downturn has fueled speculation that Yahoo might consider combining with eBay Inc. or MySpace.

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