Dylan Byers of Puck writes about why Michael Bloomberg would acquire another media company such as The Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal — even though the company said no talks have happened.
Byers writes, “Unless Bezos wakes up one morning and decides to overhaul the Post, Mike Bloomberg may be the sole media entrepreneur with the ambition—and Bloomberg News the sole U.S.-based outlet with the infrastructure and financial capital—to give the Times a run for its money. And an acquisition of the Journal or the Post could conceivably get him the subscriber base and cachet to start that effort in earnest. A Journal acquisition would make Bloomberg the indisputable leader in business and financial news, while a Post acquisition would confer unparalleled political influence, catapult the combined asset into a global news behemoth overnight, and immediately make it competitive with the Times, if not superior. And sure, none of it may happen. But an $80-billion man can dream, and dream aloud.
“The only difference between now and all those other previous reports is that nowadays—with the Post newsroom on edge and The Journal reeling from the defenestration of top editor Matt Murray in favor of Emma Tucker, a Murdoch favorite—it may not just be Bloomberg’s dream. Hundreds of journalists are probably going to sleep fantasizing about his potential ownership, too.”
Read more here.
