July 17th, 2007
Rupe zeroes in on Dow Jones
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has reached an agreement to buy Dow Jones for $5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That price tag is the same as Murdoch’s original offer and the Dow Jones board will meet tonight to approve the deal.
What remains to be seen is whether the Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of Dow Jones voting power, goes for it. Through the Journal there has been a lot of positioning by the Bancroft family to either get a better price or find another buyer.
A few observations:
- It’s clear that Dow Jones doesn’t have any other buyers. Without Murdoch’s bid there’s no way Dow Jones holds near $60 a share.
- CNBC will team up with the Financial Times for content. This pairing seems like a no brainer since the Journal’s content will be used on Fox’s soon-to-be-launched business channel. My two cents: Folks should skip both and watch Bloomberg TV.
- Murdoch is Dow Jones’ best hope. Without Murdoch Dow Jones is likely to undergo a wrenching restructuring. Murdoch lands one of the best brands in the media business.
Bottom line: It’s time to get on with this News Corp. deal.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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