• Reuters, Tuesday, December 4, 2007 11:31 AM

Contrary to reports in England and across the blogosphere, News Corp. is not negotiating a buyout of LinkedIn, the social network for professionals.

A partnership could add social media services to News Corp.'s new property, WSJ.com. The media conglomerate plans to close its acquisition of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones before the end of the year. LinkedIn, the sixth-biggest U.S. social network, registered the most growth among its peers in October according to Nielson Online. The professional social network attracted 5 million U.S. visitors in October, up from 1.7 million a year earlier. Company executives claim an IPO is a longer-term business plan, possibly next year.

Separately, News Corp. on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the religion-based Web portal Beliefnet.com. Yesterday, Mediabistro (link: http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/breaking_news/news_corp_buys_beliefnetcom_72137.asp ) reported received an anonymous tip about the purchase, news of which was followed by a phone call from a Fox saying the deal was being held until Tuesday morning. Beliefnet.com, which caters to all religious beliefs, has 3.1 million monthly uniques.

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