This just in: Bancrofts were idiots in selling WSJ to Murdoch

Fortune senior writer Devin Leonard writes Wednesday that Rupert Murdoch’s end around the special committee designed to protect The Wall Street Journal from his interference by getting Robert Thomson named editor of the paper shows just how naive the Bancrofts were to sell the paper to him.

Leonard writes, “As the Brauchli-Thomson switch shows, Murdoch has turned that approval process into a farce. No doubt we’ll hear shortly from some media watchers, maybe even a Bancroft or two, about how Murdoch has reneged on his promise and how selling the Journal, one of the world’s top newspapers, was a mistake.

“But don’t feel bad for the Bancrofts. They deserve this. Truth is, they were sub-par owners.

“The Bancrofts’ big mistake is that they liked to promote the Journal‘s top editors to the job of Dow Jones CEO. This pattern guaranteed that the Journal remained a fine paper, but not a great company. During the 15 year reign of editor-turned-CEO Peter Kann, for instance, Dow Jones’ total return to shareholders was 109%. By comparison, the New York Times Co. and the Washington Post Co. delivered returns of 228% and 368%, respectively. By the time the Bancrofts replaced Kann in 2006 with a business side guy, the damage was done.”

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