New York Times Co board member Scott Galloway said on Tuesday he did not contact Google Inc Co-founder Larry Page to try to get the Internet company to buy the newspaper publisher.

Galloway told Reuters he has not talked to anyone else at Google about buying the Times, denying a report in Fortune.com on Monday that said Galloway had made an overture to Page.

I've never been in same room with him ... There has been no phone conversation. No e-mail conversation ... There has been absolutely zero contact between me and him, Galloway told Reuters, referring to Page.

With respect to reports that I had a conversation with Larry Page about buying the New York Times, it's not true.

Galloway was one of two directors nominated to the Times board by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, which owns nearly 20 percent of the newspaper publisher's common shares.

Hollywood mogul David Geffen has offered to buy Harbinger's stake, but was rejected because he did not offer a premium to the market price, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

Fortune had reported that Google had taken a serious look at the Times, but decided to pass. When asked about the Fortune report on Monday, Google declined comment.

A spokeswoman for the New York Times was not immediately available for comment.

Times shares were down 4 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $6.77 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is down about 66 percent from year-ago levels, hurt by the slump in advertising spending.

(Reporting by Robert MacMillan, writing by Tiffany Wu; Editing by Andre Grenon)

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