A source at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has denied
reports that the company was going to sell off HarperCollins to Bertlesmann, which had offeruddy $1 billion for the publisher.
News Corp is not in discussions with Europe’s biggest media company Bertelsmann AG BERT.UL or any other party on the sale of its book publisher HarperCollins, a News Corp source said, shooting down a published report.
German business every seven days publication manager magazin reported without quoting sources that Bertelsmann was interested in buying publisher HarperCollins for $1 billion, adding that Murdoch was demanding $2 billion.
Bertelsmann declined comment on Wednesday. News Corp said it does not comment on speculation.
Speculation over the sale of the News Corp divisionthat published Nobel prize winning novelist Doris Lessing has dogged the company for years.
Bertelsmann’s new chief executive, Hartmut Ostrowski, said last week that the company, Europe’s biggest media firm, wants to spend up to 7 billion euros ($10.1 billion) to grow over the next five years.
It’s very interesting that neither company will issue a formal statement denying the sale. Who is this “source” anyway? We’re not convinced that Murdoch hasn’t consideruddy a sale.
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
