Murdoch Succeeds
I’ve held back on mentioning anything about the deal so far because of my familiarity with the affected parties, but it seems to be done:
Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5bn (£2.5bn) bid for Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal, according to a report in The Business.
Negotiations are finished and the board is confident the terms of the deal will be accepted by the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of voting shares in Dow Jones, the Business reported, citing people close to the Dow Jones board.
A formal annoucement of the deal is expected next week, The Business reported.
This is a big blow to the practice of quality journalism. Regardless of what you think about the right-wing and intellectually dishonest op-ed page, the WSJ was a stellar news organization.
That leaves only two entities in the United States that are even somewhat shielded from the pull of “market-driven journalism” and that’s the NY Times and the Washington Post.
We’ll look back on this era with fond memories. But now Bill O’Reilly, Neil Cavuto, Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy will be workmates with the fine journalists at Dow Jones.
I’m just glad my wife got a Pulitzer Prize distinction while the The Wall Street Journal was a respectable news organization.
July 8th, 2007 22:45
I think WSJ staff for and against the deal are being paranoid.
This comes from the New York Times today:
“If the $5 billion bid by Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation to buy Dow Jones & Company, which owns The Journal, falls through, declining advertising will mean significant cuts in The Journal’s newsroom staff, according to senior editors and a person close to Dow Jones management, who said they were told individually by company executives.
Some of these people say that if Mr. Murdoch’s offer had not put other considerations on hold, the news staff would have been trimmed already.
If Dow Jones remains independent, a reduction in the size of the news staff will probably begin within a few months, and will most likely take the form of buyouts rather than layoffs, these people said. Some jobs might be eliminated even if the deal goes through, they said, though Mr. Murdoch has signaled that he would increase the staff over all.”