Categories: OLD Media Moves

Dow Jones board to take no action on News Corp. offer

The Dow Jones & Co. board issued a statement late Wednesday stating that it would not take any action regarding News Corp.’s $5 billion offer to purchase the owner of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch.

The statement said, “Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) today announced that a director who is a representative of the Bancroft family, Michael B. Elefante, informed the Dow Jones Board of Directors today that members of the family and the trustees of trusts for their benefit have advised him that they would vote shares constituting approximately 52% of the outstanding voting power of Dow Jones as of May 1st (excluding options) against the proposal submitted by News Corporation to acquire Dow Jones.

“Approval of a merger under Delaware law requires approval of a majority of the outstanding voting power of the corporation. Accordingly, the Dow Jones Board of Directors has determined to take no action with respect to the proposal.”

The statement can be read 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.