Rupert Murdoch’s bid for Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal, is almost close to completion. The Business, a UK magazine, reported unequivocally that Murdoch has succeeded with his $5-billion bid for Dow Jones, quoting sources acting for the Wall Street Journal owner’s board. The announcement, said the magazine, is due next week.
Media and M&A watchers here jumped on the news-break, as it was bylined by Andrew Neill, former editor of the Sunday Times, and known as a key Murdoch lieutenant and now chief executive of Press Holdings, which owns the magazine. The magazine is part of the Barclay Brothers-owned Telegraph group in the UK.
Soon after the break, agencies reported that a spokesperson for Dow Jones said that the news is ‘incorrect’ and quoted unnamed sources that the discussions are still on about issues like pricing.
News Corp is expected to pay $60 a share for Dow Jones stock, a 67% premium on the $36 a share price in April before news of the bid leaked, the magazine said. The chances of Mr Murdoch’s bid success jumped after Pearson and General Electric decided against making a rival offer.
Younger members of the Bancroft family are believed to have pressured their relatives to accept the offer, the Guardian reported. It quoted News Corp insiders as saying it is ‘much more likely’ that a deal will be reached with the majority of the Bancroft family, after the Journal’s managing editor Marcus Brauchli gave cautious support to an agreement, backing an independent committee to safeguard editorial independence.
The deal, said reports, is expected to include measures for the editorial independence and integrity of the Wall Street Journal. The Bancroft family, it is reported, are unwilling to be seen as selling out the editorial independence of the WSJ.
The arrangement, which includes an independent panel with veto power over News Corp’s decisions to appoint key editorial people, is a tougher version of the one put in place by the British government when Murdoch bought The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981, reports said.
NEWS FROM : THE ECONOMICS TIMES
Media and M&A watchers here jumped on the news-break, as it was bylined by Andrew Neill, former editor of the Sunday Times, and known as a key Murdoch lieutenant and now chief executive of Press Holdings, which owns the magazine. The magazine is part of the Barclay Brothers-owned Telegraph group in the UK.
Soon after the break, agencies reported that a spokesperson for Dow Jones said that the news is ‘incorrect’ and quoted unnamed sources that the discussions are still on about issues like pricing.
News Corp is expected to pay $60 a share for Dow Jones stock, a 67% premium on the $36 a share price in April before news of the bid leaked, the magazine said. The chances of Mr Murdoch’s bid success jumped after Pearson and General Electric decided against making a rival offer.
Younger members of the Bancroft family are believed to have pressured their relatives to accept the offer, the Guardian reported. It quoted News Corp insiders as saying it is ‘much more likely’ that a deal will be reached with the majority of the Bancroft family, after the Journal’s managing editor Marcus Brauchli gave cautious support to an agreement, backing an independent committee to safeguard editorial independence.
The deal, said reports, is expected to include measures for the editorial independence and integrity of the Wall Street Journal. The Bancroft family, it is reported, are unwilling to be seen as selling out the editorial independence of the WSJ.
The arrangement, which includes an independent panel with veto power over News Corp’s decisions to appoint key editorial people, is a tougher version of the one put in place by the British government when Murdoch bought The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981, reports said.
NEWS FROM : THE ECONOMICS TIMES
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