media empire

Hugh Hefner, Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s iconic founder, is offering to buy the shares of the media empire that he doesn't already own and take the company private in a deal that values the organization at $185 million.

Playboy announced the bid Monday, drawing a competing offer just a few hours later from the corporate parent of rival Penthouse.

Peter A. Chernin, the subject of much speculation since his departure from the News Corporation, appears to be building his own ambitious media enterprise.

Oprah Winfrey was set to announce Friday that her powerhouse daytime television show, the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire with legions of fans, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air.

Rupert Murdoch’s sprawling media empire reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $203 million, compared to a profit of $1.1 billion last year.

In reaction to the news, Murdoch said that all News Corp sites will be charging for content by 2010.

Former press lord Conrad Black should not be freed on bail while appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court his conviction for defrauding shareholders in his Hollinger International media empire, prosecutors said Monday.