Earlier, John Koblin cited some gems from Rupert Murdoch's chat with Esquire, but here's one that shines a little brighter for us new media watchers: When Mr. Murdoch got all swoony about his acquisition of MySpace, he also snuck in a little jab about Facebook, trying to put down the "what you'd call social networking" site that is basically kicking MySpace's butt in user numbers, aesthetic, services and advertisers:

When we bought MySpace, we thought it had great possibilities. We didn't realize it would grow as fast as it has, and of course it has given birth to imitators, which I guess they're calling Web 3.

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News Corp.'s fourth quarter earnings report is in, and it looks like HarperCollins made Rupert Murdoch about as much money this year ($160 million) as it did in 2007. His TV, cable, and film divisions, meanwhile, made him about $1.3 billion each! 

Sorry, sorry, just some perspective. Back to HarperCollins: earnings for this quarter ($29 million) were down slightly compared to Q3, but up by a full third compared to Q4 last year. According to the summary provided in the report, the biggest titles of the quarter were James Frey's Bright Shiny Morning, Elissa Wall's Stolen Innocence, and an updated edition of YOU: The Owner's Manual by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz.  read more »

The Times and the Wall Street Journal have Day 2 stories on Jane Friedman’s abrupt exit from HarperCollins; both have interviews with Brian Murray, the new C.E.O., who says News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, who has owned the publishing house for about 20 years, first summoned him about a promotion on Monday.

An unnamed Times source says Ms. Friedman didn’t discuss vacating her post with Mr. Murdoch until two days later, a couple of hours before Gawker.com floated a rumor that she’d been fired.

In the Journal, Mr. Murray reiterates what he told his staff at yesterday morning’s marketing meaning—that he talked to Mr. Murdoch and was assured that HarperCollins is not going up for sale.

"He told me that the company won't be sold, that HarperCollins is a content company and that News Corp. is a content company," Mr. Murray is quoted as saying.

Why this is all happening now is no clearer today than it was the other night when the news first broke.  read more »

News Corp. has leased a huge chunk of space at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, right next to its headquarters. Perhaps to make room for the arrival of the Wall Street Journal in Midtown?

Since News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch purchased The Journal in December, he has reportedly discussed moving The Journal’s newsroom from the World Financial Center to Midtown by 2009.  read more »

Less than three months after publisher Judith Regan filed a $100 million lawsuit against her former employer HarperCollins and its parent company News Corp., a check has been cut and the suit has been killed before it even started.

No word yet on how much News Corp. is paying Ms. Regan, but according to a press release News Corp. issued around 2pm., a settlement has been reached. "The parties are pleased that they have reached an equitable, confidential settlement, with no admission of liability by any party" the statement reads.

In her spectacular 70-page suit (read all about it here), which also named HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, Ms. Regan alleged that she had been fired and stripped of her eponymous imprint under false pretenses and then strategically defamed in the press by News Corp.

A source close to Ms. Regan and familiar with the negotiations told The Observer at the time of the filing that Ms. Regan was offered a $6.5 million settlement in August but turned it down. Bert Fields, Ms. Regan's lawyer, said at the time: "We told them their number was unacceptable. They were warned in advance that she was going to file if they didn't increase the settlement offer they'd made and they responded that they were not going to increase it by one dime. And as a result she filed."

According to another source familiar with the case, Mr. Fields-- an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles-- was the driving force behind the negotiations that led to today's settlement.

Reached by phone today, Mr. Fields said he could not comment on the sum News Corp. had agreed to pay Ms. Regan. "I gave my word that I wouldn’t comment on the settlement beyond what’s in the statement and I’m going to keep it," Mr. Fields said. He would not say whom he gave his word to.

In addition to Mr. Fields, Ms. Regan has always been working with Bay Area attorney Joe Cotchett of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy. When Ms. Regan filed her lawsuit in November, she was to be represented in litigation by Brian Kerr of the Manhattan firm Dreier LLP, but she dismissed him and hired Mr. Cotchett instead sometime around New Year's. Mr. Fields confirmed that he'd been working with Mr. Cotchett. A call to Mr. Cotchett's office was not returned.

The official reason given for Ms. Regan's December 2006 firing from HarperCollins was that she'd made some anti-Semitic remarks to a company lawyer-- something she denied at the time and has continued to ever since. News Corp. is now backing off of the notion that Ms. Regan made any anti-Semitic remarks: "After carefully considering the matter, we accept Ms. Regan's position that she did not say anything that was anti-Semitic in nature, and further believe that Ms. Regan is not anti-Semitic."  read more »

Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired from HarperCollins last December amidst controversy over her acquisition of O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It, was scheduled to file a libel and breach of contract lawsuit today against HarperCollins, its CEO Jane Friedman, and its parent company News Corporation, according to Ms. Regan’s lawyer Bertram Fields.

Mr. Fields, who is based in Los Angeles, said he is not representing Ms. Regan in the suit. He did work on the case "in the beginning," but has since handed the reins over to Brian Kerr of New York-based firm Dreier LLP. (Gawker posted an anonymous letter earlier this afternoon incorrectly stating that the firm Milberg Weiss is handling the case.)

Mr. Fields said Ms. Regan’s suit “was to be filed today” but could not confirm that it actually was.

News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher said News Corp. was not aware of the suit.

“We don’t have it,” he said. “We haven’t seen any suit.”  read more »

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has joined Stephen Ross's Related Companies in its bid for the Hudson Yards project, a source familiar with the bid said.

If Stephen Ross' Related won the bid to develop on the far West Side, News Corp. would move its headquarters from its Sixth Avenue tower and into a new tower in Hudson Yards, the source said. Last week, The Observer reported that Conde Nast would leave 4 Times Square for a new, 1.5-million-square-foot tower if Douglas Durst and Vornado won a bid; and it was also reported that Morgan Stanley had teamed up with Tishman Speyer.  read more »