News Corp's Chernin ponders leaving-LA Times

NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - News Corp NWSa.N President Peter Chernin is considering leaving Rupert Murdoch's international media conglomerate, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

His contract ends at the end of News Corp's 2009 fiscal year, a company spokeswoman said, but declined to comment on whether he will renew, sign a new contract or leave.

Murdoch and Chernin previously have described contract talks that Chernin is having with News Corp as constructive.

Chernin has spent 12 years as president and chief operating officer at News Corp, which owns some of the most well known names in media, including The Wall Street Journal, the MySpace social network, the Fox television network and European satellite broadcaster Sky Italia.

His future at News Corp matters to investors because Murdoch, 77, has said that he is interested in having his children run the media empire someday. The unanswered question is whether that would conflict with Chernin running the company once Murdoch no longer does.

It also matters because if Chernin left, it would be at a time when News Corp is predicting a sharp drop in income because of an advertising slump brought on in part by the world financial crisis. News Corp's stock has been hammered like that of other conglomerates, falling 65 percent in the past 12 months.

Chernin, 57, has proven a skillful top executive at News Corp, helping broaden the company's digital portfolio with the acquisition of MySpace and the establishment of the Hulu online TV joint venture with General Electric's (GE.N) NBC Universal.

Chernin has told his friends that if he is going to try something new, he would do it before he turns 60, according to the Los Angeles Times. He also is not interested in signing another five-year contract at News Corp, the paper reported.

Other sources told the Times that he is equivocating as part of a "cagey bargaining ploy." The paper said sources closes to Chernin said he would sign a two- or three-year deal. (Reporting by Robert MacMillan; Editing by Brian Moss)