Mon, Dec 05, 2022
Newsweek
Tech & Science

News Corp Denies It's Interested in Buying Twitter

By Reuters
Murdoch
News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch in the audience before President Barack Obama delivered his remarks at the Wall Street Journal CEO council annual meeting in Washington, November 19, 2013. Jason Reed/Reuters
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Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said rumors about the company's interest in buying microblogging site Twitter Inc or building a stake in it were untrue.

Twitter's shares, which rose as much as 14 percent, pared some gains and were up 5.2 percent at $17.55 in late afternoon trading. The rumors had lifted the stock from a record low.

Unconfirmed chatter about potential News Corp interest in Twitter circulated on Wednesday, with the rumors intensifying after a CNBC segment, tech website Re/code said.

The social media site was evaluated as a takeover target because of the company's shrinking stock price, Re/code said.

A spokesman for News Corp said there was no truth to the rumors.

Twitter has been the subject of takeover rumors in the past, including a fake report attributed to Bloomberg that claimed the company had received an offer to be acquired for $31 billion.

Twitter had in the past received a bid from Alphabet Inc's Google, according to reports.

Twitter trades at 28.12 times forward earnings, below its peer median of 36.06. Facebook has a PE of 33.08, while LinkedIn Corp's is 52.64, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Up to Tuesday's close, the stock had fallen nearly 41 percent since co-founder Jack Dorsey was named permanent CEO in October.

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