Deadline looms; shareholder vote could happen

Richard Perez-Pena of The New York Times writes Monday that with a 5 p.m. deadline looming for the Bancroft family to decide whether to sell Dow Jones & Co., a general shareholder vote may be the next step if they remain split about the future of the parent of The Wall Street Journal.

Perez-Pena wrote, “The boards of both Dow Jones and the News Corporation are bracing for the possibility that they will not have a definitive answer tomorrow, people close to both boards say, and are trying to determine their next moves, which for Dow Jones could include a general shareholder vote.

“‘The potential for chaos is high,’ said a person close to Dow Jones management who had been briefed on the family’s deliberations but who was not authorized to speak about them.”

Later, he added, “With the family’s vote too close to call, it raises the possibility that Dow Jones might require a general shareholder vote. Some opponents of the sale, including Dow Jones employees, are organizing a letter-writing campaign to holders of common shares, reasoning that swinging even a few could make the difference if that occurs. In an interview after his offer was first made public, Mr. Murdoch said he was ‘not in the business of stirring up trouble in the family,’ but his bid seems to have done just that.”

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