Analyst: WSJ would shutter European editions, FT to end U.S. edition if deal

A Dow Jones Newswires story about the the possibility of the parent company of the Financial Times and GE, the parent of business news cable network CNBC, joining together to purchase Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, quotes analysts as saying foreign editions of the papers would close under such a deal.

The story stated, “A venture with GE and Pearson would create a global business news and financial information giant, with assets including the Journal, the FT and CNBC, as well as Barron’s, MarketWatch, Dow’s wire service and 50% of the Economist magazine. It would also include interests in business newspapers in Russia, France, South Africa and India, as well as leading stock indexes in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

“A merger between Pearson and Dow Jones ‘would create significant synergies with the WSJ being able to shut down its European and Asian editions and the FT shutting down in the U.S.,’ said Polo Tang, a UBS analyst who covers Pearson, in a report. ‘It would also provide a unique global platform for advertisers.’

“Tang said he thinks antitrust concerns arising from a combination of the only two global business newspapers would be minimal because Pearson and Dow Jones reportedly held talks three years ago about a possible merger. The prospects for that deal were damaged not by concerns over antitrust issues but by disagreements over control.

“It also depends on how regulators define the market and whether they would look at the entire newspaper landscape globally instead of focusing on business publications, Tang said.”

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