News Corp. eyes next-generation Web companies

NEW YORK - News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media expressed interest in acquiring next-generation Web companies that can be integrated into its popular social networking site, MySpace.com.

"I'm intrigued by some of these start-ups in the Web 2.0 space. They don't cost an arm and a leg, but they have no business model," Ross Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media, told a Bank of America investor conference.

"We're looking for technologies or feature sets that give the users tools to participate in the media rather than sit back and be pushed to," he said.

Web 2.0 refers to more advanced Internet capabilities, such as those seen on sites like Flickr or YouTube, that allow people to collaborate and share information online, rather than the more static first-generation Web pages.

Levinsohn did not name specific companies that could be a good fit for MySpace, saying: "There's nothing big out there that we have to have."

When asked if News Corp. would be interested in buying MySpace's smaller rival Facebook, a social networking Web site focused on students, Levinsohn said the company cost too much.

"We're certainly not paying $2 billion for Facebook," he said. "If the price was right I'd be interested in it. It's a great site and I know the guys there well. But I don't know if they're up for sale."

BusinessWeek reported on its Web site on Tuesday that privately held Facebook has put itself up for sale, and had turned down a $750 million offer in the hope of fetching as much as $2 billion.

A spokeswoman for Facebook denied the report and said the company had not put itself up for sale.

Levinsohn said News Corp. had used up $1.3 billion of a $2 billion interactive acquisitions war chest.

"It's the most viable time for expansion and investment that I've seen," he said.