Murdoch ‘unlikely’ to pursue Dow Jones bid
With just a few hours left for members of the Bancroft family to decide whether to back a sale of Dow Jones, News Corp said it was “highly unlikely” to proceed with its $5bn bid unless it got clear backing from the family.
The Bancroft family controls 64 per cent of Dow Jones’s voting shares and is essential to determining whether or not Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp succeeds in its $60-a-share bid for the owner of the Wall Street Journal.
A News Corp spokesman said that, based on reports that family members holding around 28 per cent of Dow Jones’s voting shares had indicated their support as of Sunday, it was “highly unlikely” Mr Murdoch would proceed unless there was a greater level of support.
News Corp did not specify how much further support it was looking for, but, based on calculations of the voting intentions of other Dow Jones shareholders, it is estimated the Bancroft family members holding at least 30 per cent of voting shares would have to back Mr Murdoch.
The chances of the deal have repeatedly been called “too close to call”. Reflecting the uncertainty, shares in Dow Jones remained volatile on Monday. At around 1230 New York time, they were down nearly 6.5 per cent at $50.93.
Hemmenway and Barnes, the Boston-based trustees for the Bancroft family, have told them to submit their votes on the News Corp offer by 5pm on Monday. Michael Elefante, an attorney at the firm and the family’s main trustee, backs a sale to News Corp.
It is not yet clear whether the results of the final vote will be announced later on Monday.
In recent letters and emails, some family members have made emotional arguments in favour of a sale, while others balk at selling to Mr Murdoch, mainly due to his reputation for a hands-on editorial approach to his media properties, which include the New York Post, the Sun newspaper in the UK, and the Fox News Channel.
Other parts of the family want Mr Murdoch to raise his bid, and yet others are said to be trying to change some of the trust structures so that votes reflect their diverging views.
Mr Murdoch made a $60-per-share cash bid for Dow Jones to the Bancroft family in April, offering a 65 per cent premium to where the shares were trading. The family rejected the offer on May 1, but then reconsidered and agreed to enter talks with Mr Murdoch.
Some non-family shareholders, such as Jim Ottoway, whose newspaper group was bought by Dow Jones years ago and whose family controls about 7 per cent of Dow Jones’s voting shares, oppose a sale to Mr Murdoch.
Most other outside investors are hedge funds or others who are expected to back a sale to News Corp.
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