Passing on Yahoo!

News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch announced Monday he will not battle Microsoft for Yahoo.

"We're not going to get into a fight with Microsoft," Murdoch said at the 21st annual Bear Stearns Media Conference in Palm Springs. "They've got a lot more money than us."

He added he was happy to be working with Google. News Corp.'s MySpace entered a search deal with the Microsoft rival in August of 2006.

Murdoch also bragged that News Corp. reduced its dependence on advertising from 41 percent of revenues to 23 percent, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

And while TV station revenues were down five percent from what the company projected, Murdoch said News Corp. was nonetheless in good shape in case of a US recession.