Murdoch spoke to AT&T CEO twice about buying CNN: report

Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and Fox News, has spoken to AT&T’s CEO twice about buying CNN, according to a Friday report.

Reuters reports Murdoch spoke to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson twice by phone in the last six months about CNN, sources said.

According to one source, Murdoch offered to purchase CNN in both conversations. But another source said Murdoch had “zero interest” in purchasing the 37-year-old cable news network.

Representatives of 21st Century Fox, AT&T and Time Warner, CNN’s parent company, declined comment to Reuters.

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AT&T agreed to buy Time Warner 13 months ago, but the deal has yet to be approved by U.S. antitrust regulators.

Conflicting reports emerged this week over whether the Justice Department has demanded the sale of Turner Broadcasting, which includes CNN, as a prerequisite for approving the AT&T-Time Warner deal.

Stephenson on Thursday denied that the demand had ever been made and that he would not even consider it.

Reuters’s report comes one day after Matt Drudge posted a rare personal tweet predicting that CNN President Jeff Zucker is “out either way” regardless of whether AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner is approved, citing poor prime-time ratings and Zucker’s alleged “personal and ridiculous” feud with President Trump.

CNN fired back at Drudge via its own CNN Communications account, citing strong ratings when compared to the network’s past performance.