NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin <NWSa.N> is not interested in taking over as chief executive of Internet company Yahoo Inc <YHOO.O>, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Chernin, whose contract with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp expires at the end of the year, has been in negotiations over a new contract with the international media conglomerate.

Analysts and media industry observers had been floating his name as a replacement to Jerry Yang, who agreed to resign as CEO last month once the company found a replacement.

Yahoo spokesman Brad Williams declined to comment on whether Yahoo's board had approached Chernin.

Chernin's lack of interest in the job was first reported by All Things Digital, which cited a source. All Things Digital is a blog owned by Dow Jones & Co, a unit of News Corp.

Other names that have been suggested for the Yahoo CEO slot include Jonathan Miller, former chief executive of Time Warner Inc's <TWX.N> AOL, former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig and current Yahoo President Susan Decker.

Yahoo co-founder Yang on November 17 agreed to give up his CEO post after investors criticized him for management missteps. The company said at the time that it was hiring executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

A source at the time told Reuters that the process could take up to 12 weeks. That could have made it difficult for Chernin to step into the Yahoo CEO role, since his employment contract with News Corp says he would have to give six months' notice of his resignation if he left to become CEO of another company.

In May, Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> withdrew a $47.5 billion offer to buy the struggling Internet search company.

Yahoo's core online display advertising business has also suffered as advertisers scaled back spending amid the worsening economic slump.

Yahoo has lost market share to search engine rival Google Inc <GOOG.O>, which earlier this year pulled out of a search advertising partnership with Yahoo on fears the U.S. government would block the deal.

Yahoo's shares fell 1 percent in after-hours trading after closing up 5.5 percent to $11.66 on the Nasdaq stock market. News Corp shares fell less than 1 percent to $8.20 in after-hours trading after rising 5.4 percent to close at $8.26 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Anupreeta Das and Robert MacMillan; Editing by Carol Bishopric, Gary Hill)

By Anupreeta Das and Robert MacMillan

Publié le 05 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Reuters