Categories: OLD Media Moves

Burkle, Greenspan meet with Dow Jones board, fail to impress Kann

Sarah Ellison of The Wall Street Journal writes that Brad Greenspan and Ron Burkle both met with board members of Dow Jones & Co. on Tuesday to discuss alternative bids to the $5 billion offer from News Corp.

Ellison noted that former Dow Jones CEO Peter Kann, a former reporter at The Journal, expressed concern about the other bidders.

She wrote, “Even some people who have reservations about the offer from News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch are skeptical that the pair offer a viable alternative. ‘The search for any buyer but Murdoch makes little sense to me,’ said former Dow Jones Chief Executive Peter Kann in an email.

“Mr. Kann, who has been outspoken in his support for the independence of Dow Jones, said he still hopes the Bancroft family will decide to not sell the company. ‘But if the family is going to sell I see no point in pursuing industrial conglomerates, Internet entrepreneurs, supermarket magnates and real-estate developers. None know anything at all about journalism. As to Mr. Murdoch, at least he loves newspapers, presumably would invest in the WSJ and Dow Jones, and would seem to have little incentive to tarnish a trophy he has coveted for so long.’ A spokesman for Mr. Greenspan didn’t have an immediate comment. A representative for Mr. Burkle didn’t return calls.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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