After so many initial hiccups and kinks, finally, Rupert Murdoch achieved his decades-long dream of running the venerable Wall Street Journal, as Dow Jones accepted his $5 billion buyout bid.
The board decided to accept the offer at a meeting late night, shortly after News Corp.’s board approved the deal. Murdoch spent the past three months courting the Bancroft family, which has controlled Dow Jones from last 105 years.
With the deal, Murdoch will get a control of Dow Jones’s news arms including The Wall Street Journal, WSJ.com, Barron’s, MarketWatch.com and SmartMoney and will strengthen Murdoch’s intention to expand the company’s presence overseas. The deal will also reinforce News Corp.’s Fox Business Network, a cable channel to launch on Oct. 15, which is eying on CNBC business.
Initially, Bancroft family was against the merger, but the deal got approved when members of the family’s Denver-based trust, with 9.1% of the voting stock, abandoned effort to thwart Murdoch and get a premium price for Bancroft-owned shares. Whereas Jim Ottaway, leader of the family that controls 7% of the votes, criticized family effort to prevent Dow Jones from Murdoch and asserted: “It’s a bad thing for Dow Jones and American journalism that the Bancroft family could not resist Rupert Murdoch’s generous offer.”
The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, which represents about 2,000 Dow Jones employees - are still disappointed with the sale to Murdoch.
Dissident members of the Bancroft family feared that Murdoch will use Dow Jones’ properties to advance his business and political interests. To address that concern, Murdoch agreed to create a five-member board, jointly selected by him and the Bancrofts that could veto his choices for the top editorial jobs at The Journal and at Dow Jones Newswires.
