Murdoch says mood of media execs "very bearish"
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Media executives at the exclusive Sun Valley conference in Idaho see the depressed economy taking years to turn around, News Corp (NWSA.O) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday.
"I'm shocked at the business mood, which is talking about either that we're at the bottom or going lower, but that it's going to take years and years, like five years at least, before we see any real growth coming out of this," Murdoch told Fox Business Network television in an interview at the conference.
The Allen & Co event is one of the year's biggest gatherings of television, movie and Internet movers and shakers. "I would say the conference is very bearish, very bearish," Murdoch said.
Jeffrey Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, told CNBC there were mixed signals on consumer confidence and that it was tough for businesses to get capital, making mergers and acquisitions more difficult.
"Buyers are looking for bargains, sellers are looking to get what they think they were worth a year ago. I think that makes it difficult to get anything done in this climate. I think you'll probably see nothing in the media space for the rest of this year," Zucker said.
"I don't think you're going to get the access to capital so readily right now," he added.
NBC Universal is owned by General Electric Co (GE.N) and Vivendi (VIV.PA).
(Writing by Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
