Too good to not quote in full from SmartMoney:
Murdoch said Monday that he wouldn’t challenge a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) bid for Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), the second-largest Internet search engine.
“I can’t afford that,” Murdoch said. “I certainly can’t afford to bid against Microsoft, least of all for Yahoo.”
But he didn’t rule out teaming with Microsoft on a bid for Yahoo, saying “that would depend on the deal.”
He pointed to competition between Google Inc. (GOOG), the leading search engine, and Yahoo as an important factor in a deal.
“There’s a very interesting dynamic going on there in that world where Google is going forward, marching forward, with tremendous momentum,” Murdoch said. “It presents a lot of questions to everybody, whether they’re ordinary marketers or advertising agencies. Are they being cut off?” “Is Google really going to get control of the advertising world and should Microsoft be supportive in (an attempt) to try and stop that, and do they have the capacity to do so?” he said.