Murdoch makes unsolictied bid for Dow Jones

[BurtWorm]

As if WSJ's editorial board isn't wrong-headed enough...


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/media/02dowjones-web.html?ex=1335758400&en=579a55bc8520a13e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss


News Corp. Makes a Bid for Dow Jones


By JEREMY W. PETERS and RICHARD SIKLOS
Published: May 2, 2007

The News Corporation, owner of the Fox News Channel and The New York Post, has made an unsolicited $5 billion takeover bid for Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Dow Jones confirmed today that it had received the offer but said only that the Bancroft family, which controls the company, was evaluating the bid. “There can be no assurance that this evaluation will lead to any transaction,” the company said in a written statement.

A person close to the situation said that it came in the form of a letter to the Dow Jones board two weeks ago.

After news of the offer was reported this morning on CNBC, shares of Dow Jones leaped 58 percent. News Corp. offered $60 a share in cash for all outstanding stock in Dow Jones — a whopping premium over the $36.33 closing price on Monday. Trading of Dow Jones stock was briefly halted on the New York stock exchange as shares approached $58. When trading resumed by midday, the price fell back somewhat but remained above $54.

The news had a ripple effect across the media industry today. Shares of media companies rose broadly in trading today, with stock of Reuters, Gannett and The New York Times Company all posting unusually high gains.

The acquisition of Dow Jones would broaden the reach of News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch, into business reporting and American media in general. The Journal has the second biggest circulation of any American newspaper, more than two million, behind USA Today. In addition, Dow Jones owns a widely circulated newswire service, other business news outlets like Barron’s and the MarketWatch Web site. The company had $1.78 billion in revenue last year.

Mr. Murdoch already has ambitious plans to add business news reporting to News Corp.’s portfolio. In February, News Corp. announced it was moving ahead with plans to start a business cable news channel. The channel, which is scheduled to start broadcasting late this year, will carry the Fox News name.

Mr. Murdoch has made his desires to own The Journal well known for years. And now that the News Corp. offer has come to light, other suitors for the paper could surface. But the Bancrofts have so far expressed no interest in selling the company, which the family has controlled since 1902.

News Corp. had no immediate comment today on the offer....

[WCGreen]

1. If he buys that, CNBC would be hurt since they have a relationship

with the WSJ that would undoubtedly change...

I don't see any big change in store, CNBC is pretty much an unabashed supporter of the free market system and so is the WSJ... Except the WSJ editorial page which is an embarrassment to the great reporting done in the rest of the paper...

[gWbush is Mabus]

2. Murdoch is not going to make the Editorial Page more conservative...

he is going to make the entire Wall Street Journal one editorial page...

and not only by editorializing the news, but by selection of topics, and slanting of facts.



NY Times is the only paper left and even they are too conservative for me.

[BurtWorm]

5. That's what I actually meant, though I didn't say it well.

He'd probably turn their news staff into Murdoch-clones.

[fasttense]

3. At this rate he will own every media outlet in the country

just what the bushes want.

[MadBadger]

4. Rupert Murdoch one day will own all of us.

[tsuki]

6. Then the economy will be wonderful, because Rupert and Saudi Prince

Al-Waleed Bin Tahal will be making it up as they go along. :sarcasm:

[NightWatcher]

7. If Rupert buys the Dow, I'm out

[tjwash]

8. Hmm. That means all financial news will be distorted with a conservative slant. Oh, wait...

On a serious note though, we have to get our congress people to bust up these fucking information monopolies and reinstate the fairness doctrine.

[flyarm]

9. rupert = hitler..

[NightWatcher]

10. but Hitler was only militant, he never controled the money/information

[tjwash]

12. Yes he did. And all the information outlets sas well.

He just took everyones focus off of it by saying that the Jews controlled all the money and the media.

Sound familiar?

[flyarm]

16. hell hitler had preston bushes money..grandpa bushes money!! and he

had the media!!

you need a history lesson!

fly

[Tyler Durden]

11. Murdock is 76 FUCKING YEARS OLD.

RETIRE and SHUT UP for fuck's sake.

Will somebody find this clown the latest version of Anna Nicole Smith???? PLEASE??? Then he can FUCK himself to death.

[Cleita]

14. He already has a trophy wife.

[Tyler Durden]

15. Why doesn't she get BUSY and give him a coronary?

His karma is so fucked, I can't see any neg's to my wishing for his demise.

[Cleita]

13. If Murdoch succeeds in owning all the media, then we

might as well crown him king because he will eventually end up owning everthing and everyone. Isn't it time to start taxing him and his companies to the max, to lower our national debt and correct the financial mess Bush has made of our government, a lot of it because of his prevaricating, yellow journalism?

I'd say make him pay thirty percent of the gross income of all the companies that he holds the major shares of as the price of doing business here in the USA. If he doesn't like it he can move his corporations elsewhere and we can start over again.