A who’s-who of media conglomerate chiefs were on hand for Goldman Sachs’ annual two-day Communacopia conference in New York’s Midtown Grand Hyatt, where, given the week’s events, dealmaking wasn’t on the schedule, Daily Variety reports. Given Monday’s stock market meltdown, caution is being employed by the likes of News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch when it comes to future deals. “We’re not doing anything while the economic future is as murky as it is now,” he told the conference. And don’t even get him started on newspapers. “We have what we have. And they’re undervalued, which means we probably can’t sell them,” he said. Those hit hardest by the fallout, the bosses agreed, were the little guys: local TV and newspapers.
—Christopher Perez