News Corp. and Dow Jones confirmed the $60 a share offer on Tuesday morning after Dow Jones shares had been halted in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones board (which includes representatives of the Bancroft family, which has voting control of the company) is evaluating the News Corp. offer. “There can be no assurances that this evaluation will lead to any transaction,” Dow Jones said in a statement. Because the family controls the company through its super voting stock held in a trust, the Bancrofts can refuse the offer, regardless of the price.
The acquisition could boost Murdoch in a head-to-head battle with Bloomberg and Reuters, among others, in providing financial and business news and information. In addition, an acquisition of Dow Jones could boost his plans to launch a Fox business news cable channel later this year that will compete with CNBC.
The move is an electric jolt in a suddenly dynamic sector of the media industry—business journalism. In addition to the pending launch of Murdoch’s business channel, Conde Nast just debuted its glossy business monthly, Portfolio. With closely held Conde Nast reportedly prepared to spend tens of millions, the new magazine is entering a field dominated by Fortune, BusinessWeek and Forbes—all of whom have struggled with declining ads, downsizing or both.
The Wall Street Journal, which has been the bible of business coverage for more than a century, is one of the world’s premiere media properties and is the nation’s second largest daily newspaper in circulation, after USA Today. But the parent company has struggled for many years now under pressures ranging from market fluctuations and management missteps, such as the company’s ill-fated acquisition of business data provider Telerate and its failure despite several attempts to launch its own cable channel. Just last year, Dow Jones replaced longtime CEO Peter Kahn with Richard Zannino, a financial executive with experience in the apparel business, among others. Last week, just days after capturing two Pulitzer Prizes, the Journal named a new editor, WSJ veteran Marcus Brauchli.
One of the world’s most celebrated media moguls, Murdoch began a love affair with Dow Jones in the 1990s. Although it is unclear whether he ever previously approached Dow Jones, he was rumored to be interested in the company’s chief asset, the Journal. Murdoch built his global media empire from a single paper left to him by his father in their native Australia. If he succeeds in his bid, he’d add Dow Jones to a sprawling media portfolio that includes the New York Post, Fox Broadcasting and the Twentieth Century Fox film studio.
