Categories: OLD Media Moves

Murdoch "highly unlikely" to proceed with bid

A Reuters story Monday afternoon quotes a News Corp. spokesman as saying that CEO Rupert Murdoch isÂ “highly unlikely”Â to proceed with his bid to acquire Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, based on the low level of support for the offer from Bancroft family members.

The Reuters story stated, “Dow Jones’ Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of the company’s voting shares, has been asked to decide by the end of Monday whether to support the deal.

“Family members holding about 28 percent of Dow Jones’ overall voting power had indicated their support for the deal as of late Sunday, the company’s Wall Street Journal newspaper reported.

“A News Corp. spokesman said the company would need more support than that from the Bancrofts for the deal to proceed, but he did not specify what percentage of the overall voting shares were sought.

“A spokesman for the Bancroft family declined to comment. Dow Jones representatives were not immediately available.”

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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.