Murdoch to be talk of Sun Valley media festival

By Kenneth Li

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch, who is pursuing a $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co., will be the center of attention when the world's biggest media chiefs gather this week at the 25th annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Participants will watch closely for any move by the 76-year-old chief executive of News Corp., including a sudden departure from the event, as a sign of a deal that would give him control of The Wall Street Journal, one of the world's most influential business media outlets.

News Corp. hired Allen & Co., the media industry's go-to bankers, to advise on the bid. Perhaps that is one reason why Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino, a fixture at last year's Sun Valley but who hired Goldman Sachs, is not on the invitation list this year.

The upper echelons of media, technology and the investment community will also follow the moves of upstart tech and Internet companies. These attendees will mix with entrepreneurs aiming for the next round of financing, buyouts and partnership deals, according to a copy of the guest list seen by Reuters.

Vying for the title of newcomer darling at the event this year is Facebook as speculation grows over whether the online social network will remain private or independent.

Scandinavia-based Web video service Joost may be a close second for attention after rapidly landing distribution deals with the world's biggest media companies.

Industry executives view Joost as a counterpoint to Google Inc.'s YouTube video sharing site, which has drawn complaints from media companies for not doing enough to protect copyrighted material. Conceived in the early 1980s by banker Herbert Allen as a gathering of Hollywood's elite to discuss big ideas in a relaxed atmosphere, the annual conference has become known as a birthing ground for mergers.

Media investor Mario Gabelli, a regular, once dubbed it the industry's "corporate cupid."