Reporters can be a pesky bunch, especially this one.

On a conference call with analysts and reporters following the release of its fiscal second quarter financial report (operating income up 23 pct to a company record), News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch was asked no less than three times about News Corp’s interest in Yahoo or anything else.

The “no’s” begin from the very first question:

Analyst: Could you discussion any interest that you may have in Yahoo and any structure that may include?
Murdoch: I just would stop to say we are definitely not going to make a bid for Yahoo. And Peter might like to elaborate on that. But we are not interested at this stage.
Peter Chernin, News Corp COO: I don’t think there’s anything to elaborate. We are not making a bid. Rupert said it pretty succinctly.

(Later on…)

Reporter 1: Hi, just wondering what kind of acquisitions you’re considering this year and how big they’ll be?
Murdoch: We are not considering anything of any significance at this moment. We will just see what comes along. We won’t do anything that won’t be synergistic and add to the long-term prospects of the company.
Chernin: Historically we’ve done better with start ups than with purchases.

Me: I’d like to know if you can make a finer point on Yahoo. If not an outright sale or purchase, are you interested in some sort of transaction possibly with a partner ?
Chernin: I think we’ve been pretty clear that we are not interested, we are not bidding, we are not looking at it. I’m not sure there’s anything else we can really say at this point, Ken.

Me: I’d like to follow up, if AOL comes up for sale would you be interested in some sort of transaction for that?
Murdoch: That’s an even easier question, no.

That said, I wonder if he’s interested in Yahoo.