Marjorie Scardino, the CEO of Pearson Plc, the parent of The Financial Times, said the company had no intention of buying Dow Jones & Co. but wanted to explore possibilities of combining operations.
Alistair Osborne of The Telegraph newspaper in London wrote, “She said Pearson did not hold any talks with Dow Jones’ controlling Bancroft family, adding: ‘You have got to kick this around when your biggest competitor is obviously going to be sold. But we were never going to commit cash or equity to The Wall Street Journal.’
“She said Pearson and GE explored whether a combination of the FT’s content, GE’s CNBC business news channels and Dow Jones’ news wires could provide a cost-effective rolling service on various platforms, including TV and the internet.
“While these plans were dropped in the face of Mr Murdoch’s punchy $60-a-share offer for Dow Jones, the FT and CNBC continue to examine potential co-operation.”
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