Sun Valley Chatter: Murdoch Not There To Make Deals? Tom Freston; Marc Andreesen Dancing On Graves
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
There's no "news" coming out of Sun Valley; it's just gossip and anecdotes. If there is any news, it'll come out weeks from now, and nobody will say it has anything to do with the conference. Rupert Murdoch expressly told reporters that he wasn't at the event to make deals. Who knows what that actually means, though it's hard to imagine hanging out with all his peers is a pure vacation.
-- Tom Freston to Scripps?: Here's a story that's the very definition of hearsay: NYP's Peter Lauria says Scripps (NYSE: SSP) InteractiveCEO Ken Lowe was overheard talking to Tom Freston about when his Viacom (NYSE: VIA) non-compete ends, so that he might be able to woo him over to the newly independent company. Again, this was just overheard.
-- Andreesen Gravedancing: Marc Andreesen is rich several times over, so unlike some other internet entrepreneurs, he doesn't need to kiss up to the old media masters. Sounds like he basically was there to puncture any bubble the moguls might've found themselves in. According to Andrew Ross Sorkin, Andreesen's presentation was basically: old media is dead; sell while you still can.
-- Power Table: Here's how Kenneth Li describes the power table of the night: "Winner of high wattage table of the night: Google (NSDQ: GOOG) co-founder Larry Page, Legg Mason's Bill Miller (Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) investor), former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, Yahoo President Sue Decker, Davis Advisors's Christopher Davis, Sergey Brin. In response to a question about what everyone talked about, Brin tells the AP reporter Jeremy Herron that he learned about money markets. "
By Joseph Weisenthal