Murdoch Says $5B Is Final Offer for Dow Jones

Mogul won't raise offer to push stalling Bancroft family
By Greg Atwan,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 27, 2007 4:09 PM CDT
Murdoch Says $5B Is Final Offer for Dow Jones
Co. on Monday, meeting with key members of the Bancroft family in person to offer assurances that The Wall Street Journal would continue its long tradition of excellence under his stewardship. (AP Photo/David Karp)   (Associated Press)

Rupert Murdoch won't raise his $5B bid for Dow Jones, the media mogul said today. Murdoch deflected speculation that he would up the ante to move along negotiations with the openly skeptical Bancroft family, which owns a majority stake in the Journal publisher. Instead, Reuters reports, Murdoch is suggesting he could balk if the Bancrofts dither.

"The final approval is in the next two, three weeks' time or not at all," he said. The declaration comes after the parties hammered out an informal guarantee of editorial independence from Murdoch, whose News Corp. also owns Fox News and the New York Post. Murdoch's offer represented a 65% premium on Dow Jones' share price when he made it. (More Rupert Murdoch stories.)

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