News Corp. Makes a Bid for Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal

NEWS CORP MAKES A BID FOR DOW JONES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters & Richard Siklos]
The News Corporation, owner of the Fox News Channel and The New York Post, has made an unsolicited $5 billion takeover bid for Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Some members of the Bancroft family are against the bid. Dow Jones issued a communication saying that some family members and their trustees planned to vote “shares constituting slightly more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting power of Dow Jones” against the deal. News Corp. offered $60 a share in cash for all outstanding stock in Dow Jones — a whopping premium over the $36.33 closing price on Monday. After news of the offer was reported this morning on CNBC, shares of Dow Jones leaped 58 percent. Trading of the stock was briefly halted on the New York stock exchange as shares approached $58. At the end of the trading day, shares closed up 57 percent, at $56.90. The news had a ripple effect across the media industry today. Shares of media companies rose broadly in trading today, with stock of Reuters, Gannett and The New York Times Company all posting unusually high gains. The acquisition of Dow Jones would broaden the reach of News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch, into business reporting and American media in general. The Journal has the second biggest circulation of any American newspaper, more than two million, behind USA Today. In addition, Dow Jones owns a widely circulated newswire service, other business news outlets like Barron’s and the MarketWatch Web site. The company had $1.78 billion in revenue last year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/media/02dowjones-web.html?hp
(requires registration)
http://news.com.com/News+Corp.+sets+sights+on+Dow+Jones/2100-1030_3-6180...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/media/02dow.html

* Now Murdoch Must Persuade the Family
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/business/media/02nocera.html?hp

* Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones meets resistance
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID...

* Union Representing DJ Employees Blasts Murdoch's Offer
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* Stocks for Most Newspaper Companies Jump After News of Murdoch Bid
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* Murdoch's Surprise Bid: $5 Billion for Dow Jones
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117803255991188252.html?mod=todays_us_pa...

* Is Murdoch's Offer Meant to Deter Rivals?
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB117806219440088852,00.html?mod=todays...

* Bid Shows Murdoch Hasn't Lost Taste for Print
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB117806470417888917,00.html?mod=todays...

* Key to Company's Fate Is the Bancroft Family; Firm 'No' or a 'Maybe'?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117806374494188888.html?mod=todays_us_mo...

* Dow Jones: the Premium Question
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Susan Pulliam at susan.pulliam@wsj.com, Gregory Zuckerman at gregory.zuckerman@wsj.com and Karen Richardson at karen.richardson@wsj.com]
Dow Jones long has traded at a premium relative to other newspaper companies. The question, after Rupert Murdoch's audacious bid for the parent of The Wall Street Journal, is how much is a buyer willing to pay for what now is viewed as one of the media world's high-profile prizes?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117806219440088852.html?mod=todays_us_mo...
(requires subscription)

* Murdoch Bids for Wall Street Journal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR200705...

* A Bid For Dow Jones Sends Industrials to a Record
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR200705...

* Murdoch's bold moves typically pay off
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-rupert2may02,1,371872...

* Murdoch offers $5 billion for Wall St. Journal owner
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-dowjones2may02,1,15...

* Offer shakes staff at Wall Street Journal
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fi-journal2may02,1,...

MURDOCH'S BID UNDERSCORES HIS ATTRACTION TO BUSINESS NEWS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Stephanie Kang stephanie.kang@wsj.com]
As News Corp. expanded into film, television, satellite TV and the Web in recent years -- acquiring properties from Twentieth Century Fox to MySpace, and starting the Fox network -- its newspapers have dwindled in importance. With well-known names like the London Sun and Times, the Australian and the unprofitable New York Post, the newspaper division accounted for only 13% of News Corp.'s operating income last year. Buying Dow Jones wouldn't dramatically boost the share contributed by newspapers but it would raise the division's profile in the U.S. Given the newspaper industry's slow growth rate, however, investors may be concerned. Anticipating such concerns, people close to News Corp. emphasized the digital-business opportunities of Dow Jones. Mr. Murdoch has been particularly vocal in the past couple of years about the newspaper industry's need to adjust to the Internet. Mr. Murdoch acknowledged that "young people are reading newspapers less" but said financial journalism has advantages over other forms of news on the Web: "You can charge for it." The Journal and Pearson PLC's Financial Times "are the only two newspapers in the world that charge for their online editions," he said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117806470417888917.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)