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News Corp.’s Chase Carey says there will be no last-minute bid on NBC Universal

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News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said not to expect his boss, Chairman Rupert Murdoch, to make a last-minute bid on NBC Universal, whose parent General Electric Co. is in talks to sell control of the entertainment company to cable giant Comcast Corp.

‘You’re not going to see any midnight headlines coming from us,’ Carey told Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto.

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There has been speculation that News Corp. might make a play for NBC Universal. Carey said it was only natural to ‘kick the tires on anything like that’ but made clear that that’s as far as it went.

He also said he didn’t think his predecessor, Peter Chernin, would end up working for Comcast if it were to succeed in acquiring control of NBC Universal.

‘I would be surprised if Peter took that job,’ Carey said. ‘I don’t think Peter is looking at this point to go to work for somebody.’

Chernin, who left News Corp. earlier this year but remains tied to the media giant as a producer with a very lucrative deal, has been quietly consulting with Comcast, which has led to speculation that perhaps he would be in line for a big position there if the NBC Universal deal goes through.

One of the reasons Chernin stepped down was that he realized he would never ascend to the top job at News Corp. -- Murdoch has made it clear that the company will always be run by a member of his family. Comcast is run by Brian Roberts, whose father Ralph founded it in 1963.

-- Joe Flint

. Credit: Matthew Staver / Bloomberg

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