News Corp real estate unit may fetch more than $3B

News Corp., the publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch's vast media empire, is in talks to sell its stake in Move Inc. realty division for more than $3 billion to CoStar Group, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Why it matters: A sale at that price would be more than 3X what Murdoch paid for Move (the parent company to real estate listing site Realtor.com) in 2014 and is a jolt of good news for the empire after Rupert and his son Lachlan disclosed yesterday that they were scrapping the planned merger of Fox and News Corp.

Details: News of the Move sale process came in a filing after the father and son said in a statement that the Fox-News Corp merger idea was "not optimal" for shareholders.

• CoStar offers data and marketing services to the commercial real estate industry as well as the owner of Apartments.com.
• CoStar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What to watch: Murdoch could chose to pursue the merger again later after the real estate deal logistics are managed.