Former Dow Jones & Co. executive James Ottaway Jr., who controls 6.2 percent of the voting stock, said he believes the Bancroft family that controls the parent of The Wall Street Journal will turn down the $5 billion offer from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, writes Jeremiah Horrigan of The Times Herald-Record in upstate New York.
The newspaper is an Ottaway paper owned by Dow Jones.
Horrigan wrote, “‘I’m certainly more optimistic even than last week,’ Ottaway said. ‘I think it’s a possibility the family might gather enough votes to stop the sale. After talking with family members, there are some who are definitely against selling a journalistic family jewel.’
“Other family members, he said, have been ‘scared into selling by a fear of the future, in the knowledge that this is a very high price that will take a long time to approach again.’
“While several family members have announced their opposition to the sale, Ottaway cautioned that either side’s gaining a sufficient majority will not be a simple matter: ‘There are so many trusts, some of which require unanimity . . . we’ll know more by the end of the week.'”
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