Dow Jones agrees to $5 billion News Corp. buyout: WSJ

[Zenlitened]

Source: Marketwatch.com

By Alan Doyle
Last Update: 11:12 PM ET Jul 16, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has reached a tentative agreement to buy Dow Jones & Co. at its original offer price and the agreement will be submitted to the full Dow Jones board on Tuesday night, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday. The deal must also be approved by the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of Dow Jones' voting stock, and whether the Bancrofts will support the deal is too close to call, The Journal said.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dow-jones-agrees-5-billion/story.aspx?guid=%7B94F7230C-86AE-4A1B-80E4-EA0B247E6B97%7D

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Here's more, direct from WSJ:

News Corp. Reaches Tentative Agreement to Buy Dow Jones

By SARAH ELLISON (Wall Street Journal)
July 16, 2007 10:56 p.m.

News Corp. reached a tentative agreement for the purchase of Dow Jones & Co. at its original $5 billion offer price. The deal will be put to the full Dow Jones board tomorrow evening for its approval, said people familiar with the situation.

In what could be the final round of talks, this afternoon negotiators from News Corp. and Dow Jones -- including Chief Executive Richard Zannino, company advisers and two independent directors -- reached an agreement in principle on a deal first proposed by News Corp. in mid-April. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch resisted pressure from Dow Jones to raise his initial $60 a share offer, which represented a 67% premium to where the Dow Jones stock was trading before news of the offer became public.

(snip)

The deal still faces its biggest hurdle -- getting approval from the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of Dow Jones's voting stock. Mr. Zannino has indicated to News Corp. that the family's position on the deal is too close to call, according to a person who spoke to him.

Michael B. Elefante, the Bancroft family's lead trustee, has scheduled a meeting for Thursday at which he would present the agreement to all Bancroft family members before asking for their final vote. Mr. Elefante is expected to give the family several days to make a decision, suggesting a final resolution could be achieved some time next week.

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118463978304868582.html?mod=moj_latest_news

[sakabatou]

1. What will this mean for the paper, though?

[Zenlitened]

5. At least one dropped online paid subscriber, I think I can predict

I've been looking for ways to get the financial news I need -- which is nothing terribly elaborate, really -- using other sources. I'm finding that it can be done, pretty easily. And for free.

The loss of my $79 subscription won't make the Murdoch empire crumble, that's for sure. But I'm not sticking around while he tears down the wall that has kept the lunatics contained on the op-ed pages, for the most part, and turns a useful business journal into just so much more faux-news garbage.

[AndyTiedye]

10. The Financial Times Is Much Better than the WSJ

[rusty charly]

2. bloomberg can't be amused.

[madinmaryland]

4. Bloomberg may be amused.

Considering that the WSJ will become a tabloid, it will make his Bloomberg News even more relevant.

[Zenlitened]

7. Agreed. The Bloomberg brand...

... stands to benefit greatly if Murdoch takes the WSJ down the gutter, as he has a habit of doing.

[Zynx]

18. Bloomberg makes most of its money off their terminals which are

huge repositories of information and have nothing whatsoever to do with the news business.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. So, a week ago or so when they said

this was not true, it was, huh?

[CatholicEdHead]

6. There is the backing for the new Fox Business Channel

Expect to see the WSJ brand all over the place.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

8. This Country Is BULLSHIT!

We're a FUCKED up country, and getting worse by the day.

The media can go FUCK themselves. I'm about done.

[Demeter]

9. A Plague on Both Their Houses!

The final indignity to a once well-deservedly proud publication, plunged into madness during the Reagan years and brought to the ultimate destruction in this 7th Year of Our Bush.

May neither buyer nor seller profit from it. Ever.

[Garrett]

11. It's all over but the crying

This just about finishes any "news reporting" we had. They have a lousy opinion page, but their factual articles were always pretty good. Murdoch will take care of that....after all, who needs news when you have boobs on page three???

I just heard tonight that the WSJ is/was about the only news entity that still has foreign correspondents assigned overseas...over 200 of them. I hope they don't have any long term debt, cuz they're history. I really fear for our future.

[xultar]

12. Can someone explain to me how Newscorp can buy the Dow?

That shit boggles my fuckin mind.

[Karenina]

15. The Bancrofts can still say NO.

Bitte, Bancrofts.

[Zynx]

19. Dow Jones corp simply produces the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

News Corp buying Dow Jones means absolutely nothing. Dow Jones simply came up with a mathematical formula.

[cyberpj]

13. Anyone remember when it was GOOD to break up monopolies? Thanks Washington. nt

[underpants]

14. The market crashed? My 401 is worthless? WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT???

One of those "way out there" websites you go to??? I haven't heard anything about THAT!!!

(coming soon to a fellow citizen near you)

[HughBeaumont]

16. Great. A proto-fascist Reagan sympathizer monopolist buys his own financial market.

Let's all fucking move. Just toss the goddamned keys of Dumberica to the Robber Barons and let them blow up the world and drive everyone into slavery while they fly to their mansion-prisons via helicopter above us untermensch.

Soon, these doomsday scenarios about America's descent into plutocracy and the bleak wasteland that will follow may not be too far off.

[poverlay]

17. This thing makes me want to throw up. I'm sure the crab puffs have something to do with

that, but mostly Murdoch...

[Vogon_Glory]

20. Where Will Bart Simpson Show Up In the Murdoch-owned WSJ?

So it looks like the Bancrofts have given in to Rupert Murdoch. I'm already wondering where Bart Simpson will turn up in the Murdoch-owned Wall street Journal.

In the front-page section?

In the Mrketplace section?

Will the school bully Nelson read the NYSE price quotes with commentary?

:evilgrin:

[Jacobin]

21. With media consolidation and net neutrality gone

We are going to have to resort to smoke signals