Murdoch offer worth $500 million to Bancrofts; $18 million to Kann/House

TheStreet.com’s Brett Arends writes Wednesday that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s $5 billion bid to purchase Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal increased the value of the stock owned by the Bancroft family by $500 million.

Before the offer, Arends writes, the Bancroft stock was worth $740 million. Now it’s worth $1.24 billion. And they’re not the only ones who would benefit from the sale of the company.

Arends writes, “Take husband and wife team Peter Kann and Karen Elliott House, the legendary power couple at Dow Jones until their retirement in the past year. Kann was company chairman and chief executive. House rose to become publisher of the Journal.

“Company filings show that the couple retired with as many as 944,750 options and contingent stock rights as of Dec. 31, 2006. The only problem? Nearly all of those options were worthless. They had exercise prices over $40, and in some cases over $50.

“As the couple walked out the door, they must have thought those days had come and gone.

“Today? Those options and stock rights, if they still hold them, will be worth $18 million.”

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