Greenspan says he can make Dow Jones worth more than $5 billion

Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan says he can make Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, worth more than the $5 billion that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is offering for the company, according to a story by Journal reporter Sarah Ellison.

Previously, Greenspan and a group of investors had offered to buy up to 25 percent of the company.

Ellison wrote, “In an effort to persuade members of the Bancroft family to reject a takeover bid from News Corp., Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan issued an open letter to shareholders of Dow Jones & Co., saying he has a plan to make the company worth well more in 2009 than the $5 billion that News Corp. has offered.

“Mr. Greenspan is proposing to fund a buyout of members of the family that controls Dow Jones but want to sell by family members who oppose a deal with News Corp. and its chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch.”

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However, Greenspan’s letter to the Dow Jones shareholders can be found here. In it, he states, “Our strategy centers around leaving the print publications of Dow Jones intact to continue serving as the gold standard of financial reporting, and creating additional earnings streams through digital media initiatives that can produce a stock price above $100 a share. For too long, Dow Jones has limited its focus to the world of print media and allowed other, less established entities to generate millions of dollars in profits by developing financial reporting franchises on the Internet and cable television. The time has come for Dow Jones to break out of its slumber and extend its dominance into the lucrative arena of digital media.

:The value proposition of the WSJ is its position as the leader in breaking news that impacts the market. The ability to consistently break the most financial news with the highest level of integrity will capture the largest audience, regardless of the medium. This is a formula that the WSJ has already proven through its 2+ million print readers each day.”