[It looks like we in New York might soon be surrounded]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/business/media/23paper.html
The New York Times
April 23, 2008
Murdoch Moving to Buy Newsday for $580 Million
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA and TIM ARANGO
Rupert Murdoch is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on
American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New
York-based paper, Newsday, and getting his first chance to appoint the
top editor of The Wall Street Journal, after the resignation of the
editor on Tuesday.
His $580 million bid for Newsday and his urgency in remaking The
Journal worry his competitors and cause angst in many newsrooms,
including his own. And both moves are vintage Rupert Murdoch, a man who
operates his sprawling News Corporation like an old-style media mogul,
making big bets on old and new media -- bankrolling the new Fox
Business Network, aggressively pursuing a deal for Yahoo, and buying
Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Journal, for far more than
analysts thought it was worth. And that was just in the last year.
His first love, however, remains newspapers. The purchase of Newsday
from the Tribune Company would put Mr. Murdoch in control of 3 of the
nation's 10 largest-circulation papers (the others being The Journal
and The New York Post). Owning Newsday, which is based on Long Island,
would also open an eastern front in the long-running battle for New
York tabloid supremacy and, by combining some operations, could allow
News Corporation to end decades of heavy losses by The Post.
But the agreement is far from final as competing bidders consider their
positions.
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Michael