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Murdoch: No delay in IPO
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November 3, 2000: 1:31 p.m. ET
Media mogul denies speculation of a delay in Sky Global's initial offering
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch denied rumors Friday that the flotation of his company's television arm Sky Global Networks had been postponed, but did admit the IPO could slide into next year.
 There has been speculation that recent market volatility and weakness in media stocks would forced Murdoch to delay the Sky Global flotation, but the 69-year-old media mogul said Sky Global's offering date would take place either in December or the beginning of 2001 as expected.
Murdoch, however, warned that the flotation hinged on market conditions and a number of other factors, which analysts believe include ongoing negotiations with potential core shareholders.
"It will happen either in the last part of the year or the first month of next year," Murdoch told reporters at the annual meeting for British Sky Broadcasting, the U.K. pay-TV broadcaster which he heads as chairman.
"It depends on market conditions and there's a lot of moving parts that we can't really talk about now," he said.
 Valued by analysts at between $35 million and $40 million, Sky Global's main assets include a stake in British Sky Broadcasting, Asian satellite service Star TV as well as interests in Italy's Stream and Sky Latin America.
News Corp. (NWS: Research, Estimates) has held talks with various potential partners, the latest being software giant Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates), which, bankers say, has been negotiating a stake of around 3.5 percent for more than $1 billion.
Murdoch said earlier this month that News Corp. had also been in talks with two possible U.S. partners -- Hughes Electronic Corp. and EchoStar.
In Friday morning trading, shares of News Corp. rose $1.06, or about 2 percent, to $44.94 on the New York Stock Exchange.
--from staff and wire reports 
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