The Daily Background

Ugh. According to several reports, a decision on the Dow Jones/WSJ/NewsCorp/Murdoch bid is set for sometime either today or very very soon, imminent to be sure. And several items like this one don’t look good.

Members of the Bancroft family, which has controlled Dow Jones & Co. for more than a century, appeared close to accepting a five-billion-dollar takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The Wall Street Journal, the crown jewel of Dow Jones’s assets, reported the outcome was too close to call in the final hours of deliberations amid “heated” negotiating ahead of a deadline Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The conventional wisdom at this point is that the sale is pretty much a done deal: what Murdoch wants, Murdoch gets. Obviously, I wish the Bancroft family had more of an interest in protecting the quality of journalism than making more money though- they’re already all super rich anyways.

Update: A confusing update from Reuters says:

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. said on Monday it is “highly unlikely” to proceed with its $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co. Inc. unless it wins more support from Dow Jones’s controlling family.
[…]
A source familiar with the situation estimated between 25 percent and 32 percent of voting shares held by the Bancrofts favored Murdoch’s bid, but stressed the situation was in flux. The final tally has not been firmed.

The source said that to be comfortable, Murdoch would probably want a support level of 28 percent to 30 percent. Outside shareholders hold about 29 percent of voting shares and are expected to largely back the deal.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog