Dow shareholders say ‘no’ to Murdoch

TEXT OF STORY

SCOTT JAGOW: The man who owns Fox News and MySpace also wants to own the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch made a surprise $5-billion bid for Dow Jones, the company that owns the venerable newspaper.

But Dow Jones controlling shareholders said they would block the deal. Joe Bonner is a securities analyst with Argus Research. He takes a stab at Murdoch’s motives:

JOE BONNER:Well I think it’s probably tied in to the launch of their financial news network later on this year. I would say that would be the strategic purpose behind it.

They could probably take those brand names — The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones are both highly reputable brand names in the financial news area — (and) I guess we might be looking at a Wall Street Journal channel.

SCOOT JAGOW: Murdoch’s bid sent shares of Dow Jones up 54 percent — and that gave Wall Street a lift.