Rupert Murdoch seems near to get Wall Street Journal as he said that $5 billion is enough to get the prestigious journal.
Murdoch is hopeful to merge the Wall Street Journal in its mammoth media empire as he assert that any deal with Dow Jones & Co. would likely be resolved in the next two or three weeks, or “not at all.”
It was expecting that Murdoch would increase the bid slightly to seal the deal, but he completely brushed aside the possibility and said:
Everything is done we are just waiting for a final approval of the Bancroft family, the final approval is in the next two, three weeks’ time or not at all
A spokesman for Dow Jones declined to comment on Mr. Murdoch’s remarks.
News Corp., which is offering $5 billion for the owner of The Wall Street Journal, has reached an agreement in principle with Dow Jones on editorial protections for the company, which was the main matter of concern in the deal. It considers it as a major leap toward getting Wall Street Journal. That clears the way for discussion of the price that the News Corp would pay - a matter that has so far taken a backseat as far as the question of how much control the company and its chairman, Rupert Murdoch, will have over the pages of the WSJ.
There are still a few “open items” to be resolved, and the two sides haven’t worked out the terms of an overall deal, these people said. Any deal would need to be approved by the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of Dow Jones’s voting stock and has been ambivalent about a sale.
Dow Jones management is planning to give detailed presentations on the company to News Corp. today, a discussion that could last several days and is likely to lead the parties to a negotiation on price. Although Murdoch has shown its reluctance to increase even a single penny, but it’s apparent that Dow Jones people will press him to get better out of the deal.
So far, Dow Jones has not come up to the negotiation table and has also not disclosed its expectation from the deal. Other suitors are still in the foray to get WSJ, however, Dow Jones is still meeting with other interested parties, such as Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan, which is expected to meet with representatives of Dow Jones and the Bancroft family today. He is leading an investor group that is proposing to buy 25% of Dow Jones for $60 a share and make an additional $250 million investment in the company.
