Potential new bidders meet Dow Jones

11 July 2007

New York: Though it has been in talks for a takeover by Rupert Murdoch''s News Corp, Dow Jones & Co is reported to have met US supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan in an effort to find an alternative buyer for itself. (See: Murdoch, Dow Jones yet to strike deal; US magnate named possible bidder)

Burkle and Greenspan met with members of Dow Jones'' board committee in New York late yesterday afternoon to jointly discuss the possibility of a rival bid.

News Corp had offered a 65 per cent premium at $ 60 per share in a $5 billion deal for Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, as it plans to build a new business cable television channel.

The two companies are believed to have reached a basic agreement over protecting editorial independence at the The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones news operations in the event of News Corp emerging successful in its bid.

Even at this stage, Dow Jones has attempted to find other potential buyers to allay the misgivings over News Corp acquiring control of the publishing assets of the group of the Bancroft family, which owns 64 per cent of the company''s voting shares.

Observers say a serious rival to News Corp was unlikely at the size of the offer made by it.