Categories: OLD Media Moves

What happens if Bancrofts turn down Murdoch's offer?

Douglas MacIntyre writes on the 24/7 Wall Street site about what would happen to Dow Jones & Co. if the Bancroft family that controls the company turns down News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s $5 billion offer.

MacIntyre wrote, “Cutting costs at the Journal would probably involve cutting jobs or getting employees to work for less. It would also almost certainly require moving more readers to an internet platform to save money in paper and production.

“Dow Jones might also go for the long ball and buy the FT from Pearson. There have been some indications that the paper could be sold for $1.3 billion. Pearson is now primarily in the education publishing business. Combining the FT and WSJ would offer both properties significant savings in news, sales, and production costs.

“Rejecting Murdoch would be ugly for shareholders, but it might not be the end of the line for the share price.”

Read more here.

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.