Murdoch says no to deals at media retreat

News Corp's chairman Rupert Murdoch plans to forego making deals at this year's Allen & Co. media retreat, an Associated Press report said.

'Not today, not this week,' Murdoch told reporters Wednesday morning on his way to the annual retreat's opening breakfast.

Murdoch built his media and entertainment empire through brash dealmaking at Sun Valley and elsewhere, including last year's purchase of Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, the report said.

Murdoch's presence signifies the importance of the Allen event, but his certainty that no deals are afoot underscores the uneasy times facing many media and web moguls.

Many of them arrived this year at the closed event with their stock prices at multiyear lows as investors increasingly question how media companies are addressing the loss of advertising revenue to the web and as internet firms try to maximize their investments.

Much of the talk at the retreat so far has centered on speculation over the next move in the complex takeover dance between faltering internet pioneer Yahoo and its unbidden suitor, Microsoft.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who owns about 4% of Yahoo and has been agitating for a sale, isn't expected at all.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is expected Friday.