MySpace would likely sell for $6 billion now,  News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch told Australian investors today. Details of the meeting come from UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff in a lengthy note. Murdoch missed the quarterly earnings call last week so his Australian meetings are a chance to hear him on a number off issues; a meeting in Adelaide will be webcast tonight at 8 p.m. eastern.
Some details:
—“NWS views MySpace as its digital centerpiece, with 130 million registered users growing at a rate of 8 million users per month globally and expects 200 million profiles by mid 2007 ...  News Corp. paid approximately $600 million for MySpace parent Intermix and Mr. Murdoch noted that the company could likely receive $6 billion if it were to sell the company now.” By contrast, UBS values all of FIM at $2 billion in its “sum of the parts.”
—Speaking about the MySpace-SoftBank deal, Murdoch said one of his objectives for MySpace “is to deliver content to mobile phone operators beyond the current offering movie clips and ring tones.”
—Murdoch, who essentially is still selling MySpace to some investors,  said the changing demos of MySpace to 28-25 indicates potentially broader appeal for advertisers. “He noted that this will be the biggest single mass platform for advertising in the world, and will allow amazing targeting of demographics which will result in rate premiums.”
—Bourkoff: “We remain conservative in our estimates for FIM and believe that the company could outperform as it develops its core properties.”
Cable networks: Aided by 200 percent affiliate rate increases for Fox news, Murdoch said
BSkyB: Murdoch said broadband will take three years to build out at BSkyB and that the cost is higher than expected.