kude.punny

Murdoch closes Dow Jones deal

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sealed a 5-billion-U.S. dollar deal for Dow Jones & Co. as the Bancroft family agreed to the buyout offer, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. "A century of Bancroft-family ownership at Dow Jones & Co. is over," the Journal said on its website.

On May 1, Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, announced that it had received the bid from News Corp. to buy the company for about 5 billion dollars, or 60 dollars a share either in cash or a combination of cash and News Corp. stock. The offer came as newspapers across the United States face a deepening crisis of slumping revenues as readers flock to the Internet for information and entertainment. However, the Bancroft family, which has controlled Dow Jones since 1902, refused the offer at the beginning. After three months of drama in the controlling family and public debate about journalistic values, the offer received support from Bancroft family members, who hold 37.4 percent of Dow Jones' voting power, more than half of the family's total voting stake of 64.2 percent. Public shareholders own 29 percent of voting shares and are likely to support the deal. Another 7 percent is controlled by former Dow Jones board member and executive Jim Ottaway Jr. and his immediate family, who oppose the deal. A person familiar with the matter said News Corp.'s board approved the deal, but the vote had not yet been made public. Shares of Dow Jones were up 11 percent Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange as investors reacted to reports that a deal was imminent. VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

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