Although early reports had the Bancroft family seriously considering the offer, CNBC now reports that the Bancroft family will vote shares in majority against the proposal by Rupert Murdoch to buy The Wall Street Journal for $5 billion.
A sale to anyone would ultimately be decided by the company’s Board of Directors and members of the Bancroft family, a consortium in possession of the majority shares in the company. Prominent members of the Bancroft family include Christopher Bancroft and cousins Leslie Hill and Elizabeth Steele.
Currently, the paper’s parent company, Dow Jones, is in a licensing agreement with business network CNBC. The media chatter says the part of Murdoch’s plan in acquiring The Wall Street Journal would be to launch a new business network under the Fox banner, thus putting CNBC’s future in jeopardy.
Pay close attention: while new media "experts" are running for the hills and crying about the death of print media, moguls like Sam Zell and Murdoch continue to offer huge premiums to enter this allegedly "dead" business. The truth is, although print circulations have taken a hit due to the popularity of online media, until electronic paper becomes a viable, ubiquitous reality, print media is still a valued business sector. Print is dead, long live print!
Video of Murdoch explaining his interest in The Wall Street Journal here.
Photo:Ms Mannix
