THE CANADIAN PRESS

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TORONTO - News reports say Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp. over a deal that would see the media company get paid to remove its news websites from Google.

Enlarge Photo

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Elaine Thompson, file

In this Jan. 22, 2009 file photo, a man walks on the Microsoft headquarters campus in Redmond, Wash.

The Financial Times first reported the story Sunday, saying it has also learned that Microsoft approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google.

According to a person familiar with the talks, the impetus for the discussions came from News Corp., owner of newspapers ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Sun in the U.K., FT reported.

News Corp. and Microsoft, which owns the rival Bing search engine, have declined to comment on the reports.

Microsoft's interest is being interpreted as a direct assault on Google because it puts pressure on the search engine to start paying for content.

The biggest beneficiary of a possible deal could be the newspaper industry, which has so far failed to come up with an online business model that adequately replaces declining print and advertising revenues.