Leon Lazaroff of Bloomberg News writes that it’s unlikely that any other bidders for Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, will be able to top News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s $5 billion bid for the company now that its controlling owners, the Bancrofts, have agreed to talk.
Lazaroff wrote, “The company may not get a higher offer than Murdoch’s, said Michael Chren, managing director of Allegiant Asset Management Co. in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The Allegiant Large Cap Value Fund had 436,000 Dow Jones shares at the end of April.
“‘It’s now an auction situation, and my sense is that Murdoch has them exactly where he wants them,’ Chren said. ‘No one else is coming to this party. It seems very likely we’re headed to a deal between News Corp. and Dow Jones.’
“Murdoch’s offer prices Dow Jones at almost double the valuation McClatchy Co., publisher of the Miami Herald, put on Knight Ridder Inc. last year and that real estate billionaire Sam Zell is offering for Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times.”
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