Murdoch in bid for Dow Jones

[GTI]

Only 007 can save us from this evil meglomaniac cunt

Murdoch bids $5bn for Dow Jones
Shares in 'Wall Street Journal' publisher soar. Move comes before launch of US business TV channel
By David Usborne in New York and Nic Fildes

The world skyline of leading media companies trembled yesterday following confirmation that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has launched an unsolicited bid for the entire Dow Jones Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

First word from the controlling Bancroft family suggested a swift rejection of the bid. However, Mr Murdoch, speaking on his own Fox News Channel, showed no signs of retreat, remarking: "There's plenty of time."
While Mr Murdoch's interest in owning one of the most respected titles anywhere has been an open secret for years, the news of his move on The Wall Street Journal took the breath from industry insiders. If a marriage is consummated, it would create a towering media Leviathan.
Trading in Dow Jones shares was suspended for two hours after they surged on first reports of the bid from $37.12 (£18.58) to $57.08 per share. Mr Murdoch is offering $60 a share for the company in a deal made up of cash and shares. The last time its shares traded at the levels seen yesterday was in 2002.
"It's a brilliant move on many levels," commented Mort Zuckerman, the publisher who owns The Daily News, the tabloid rival to Mr Murdoch's loss-making New York Post. "He's a terrific newspaper man, it's the core of his DNA. And it's a hugely attractive price." Owning The Wall Street Journal, with its strong conservative editorial bent, would hugely enhance Mr Murdoch's political influence.
But nothing is certain in this romance. The key will be the response from members of the Bancroft family, who together have final control of the company through a special class of shares that gives them 64 per cent of shareholder votes while owning about a quarter of the stock. The company cannot be taken over by anyone without the family's consent.
In a statement, the company said it was still "evaluating" the offer, which would be worth about $5bn. News Corp said it did not consider the bid "unfriendly". There have been no formal contacts with the Bancrofts as yet.
The ramifications of this for the entire media industry are broad and intriguing. Yesterday's developments also had a ripple effect on other media holdings. In London, media stocks soared as investors got excited about the offer that values Dow Jones at 2.8 projected sales for this year, sending Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times, up 4.6 per cent and Reuters, the financial news and information supplier up 3.5 per cent. In New York, shares of the struggling New York Times Company jumped 8 per cent in early trading.
It escaped no one's attention, meanwhile, that News Corp, which has properties that range from The Times and The Sun newspapers in London to the Fox television and film companies in the US, is preparing to launch an all-business cable news channel in the United States later this year, and yoking it with Dow Jones would give the project a stunning boost.
To that end, the acquisition would represent a formidable challenge to the current leader in 24-hour business news, CNBC, which is owned by NBC and thus General Electric. The Wall Street Journal is a main supplier of content to CNBC under a contract that runs until 2012.
Dow Jones is much more than just The Wall Street Journal, however. It manages various stock indices, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and has a wide stable of paper and online properties, including, Barron's, the Far Eastern Economic Review, MarketWatch and the Ottaway group of newspapers. It also owns Factiva and co-owns SmartMoney with Hearst Corp.
"A $60 bid for Dow Jones has to be considered very seriously," Michael Price, president of MFP Investors, which holds Dow Jones shares, told Bloomberg News. "Murdoch sees the potential of tremendous economies of scale putting the news organisations together. If true, this really would be unbelievable."
Many members of the Bancroft family treasure The Wall Street Journal. Some may also consider Mr Murdoch uncivilised. Yet many have also expressed frustration with the share performance of the company. Because of the high premium, they will at least pause to give the offer serious consideration. Indeed, if they don't, they could trigger a further collapse in the Dow Jones share value.
Like other newspaper companies, including the New York Times, the Dow Jones group has recently been confronted with dwindling fortunes. Last month, the company said that its first-quarter profits had sunk by 63 per cent over the previous year, largely because of the sale of six community newspapers, but also due to declining advertising revenue at The Wall Street Journal.
Now he has placed Dow Jones on the block, Mr Murdoch may face rivals and a bidding war for its properties, however. The New York Times Company may be moved to make an offer, as might the Washington Post Company and the cash-rich Bloomberg LP.
While the major US newspapers may be hurting, there has been a frenzy of takeover activity in recent weeks. Last month, the Tribune Group, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, agreed to an $8bn deal with real estate investor Sam Zell and last year McClatchy acquired what was then America's second largest chain of papers, Knight Ridder, after a shareholder revolt.

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[Fusen]

someone needs to kill the fucker before he turns every newspaper into shite