News Corp. to trade MySpace for stake in Yahoo?

Interestingly enough, The Times is itself owned by News Corp. The parent company is allegedly "interested in a deal even if it means losing some control of MySpace because it would give the media group exposure to a far larger internet-based business," the story reads. Sabbagh notes, however, that the purported talks may fall through now that Yahoo's chief executive, Terry Semel, has stepped down from his post and been replaced by company co-founder Jerry Yang.

According to the Times, News Corp. mogul Murdoch has acknowledged that MySpace's most promising potential rival, Facebook, has been gaining ground in the wake of recent growth fueled by its recently launched developer platform. Yahoo, likewise, is allegedly interested in breaking into the social networking arena, where it currently is not a major player.