Microsoft, News Corp. discuss Google content, FT says

Microsoft Corp. held talks with News Corp. about paying the Wall Street Journal publisher to remove reports from Google Inc.’s search engine, the Financial Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The talks are at an early stage, the newspaper reported on its Web site. News Corp. is one of several online publishers Microsoft has approached to remove their Web sites from Google, according to the newspaper.

The move indicates a “direct assault” on Google because it may pressure the owner of the Internet search engine to pay for content, according to the FT. News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch, who heads the European and Asian operations, have said they plan to charge for online content.

Google doesn’t comment on speculation, the Mountain View, California-based company said in a statement today.

“We believe search engines are of real benefit to newspapers,” the statement said. “Google has a clear policy of respecting the wishes of content owners.” Amelia Agrawal, a Singapore-based spokeswoman at Microsoft, couldn’t immediately comment. Jannie Poon, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman at News Corp., declined to comment.

“The key step in developing a key wholesale marketplace for digital journalism is starting to ask a price,” James Murdoch said Nov. 19 at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona. “We invest quite a lot in our journalism and we are proud of it and we think we should charge a fair price for it.”

Newspapers have been seeking new sources of revenue to counter the loss of advertising and paying readers to the Internet. U.S. newspaper industry ad revenue fell 28 percent in the third quarter to $6.44 billion, according to estimates by the Newspaper Association of America last week.

The Wall Street Journal in October began charging for access on mobile devices such as Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and announced plans for a higher-priced WSJ Professional Web site.

(Source: Bloomberg)

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