Categories: OLD Media Moves

News Corp. almost backed out of Dow Jones talks during the weekend

Sarah Ellison of The Wall Street Journal reports for Monday’s paper that the talks between News Corp. and Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, grew contentious at one point this weekend with News Corp. threatening to pull out of talks to acquire the company at one point.

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch apparently had an angry phone call with Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino after receiving a proposal Friday afternoon to protect the Journal from his interference, according to Ellison’s story.

Ellison wrote, “To respond to Dow Jones’s editorial-independence proposal, News Corp. sent back a significantly altered draft Sunday morning, according to a person familiar with the matter. News Corp.’s proposal cut out portions of the board’s initial proposal and reduced the Bancroft family’s involvement in the structure designed to safeguard the editorial independence of Dow Jones, this person said.

“Dow Jones negotiators are trying to craft a proposal that would give a measure of protection for the Journal’s journalistic integrity acceptable to Bancroft family members, who hold a controlling stake, and at the same time hope to win a bit higher price. The News Corp. side wants recognition that if it buys the company, it gets to control all its assets, including The Wall Street Journal. And News Corp., headed up by Rupert Murdoch, portrays $60 a share as a very full price, one that thus far has scared away any competitive bidders, though the Murdoch side hasn’t ruled out a modest increase as a way of sealing a deal.

“Dow Jones was working on how to respond to News Corp. late Sunday, according to a person close to the Bancroft family. Marcus W. Brauchli, the Journal’s recently appointed managing editor, and Paul Gigot, editor of its editorial page, have been advising the family on the editorial principles and have taken on a more central role over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter.”

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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.