The well publicized saga of the "Wizened of Oz's" pursuit of the Wall Street Journal continues. Members of the Bancroft family, which has controlled Dow Jones for a century, had a 5 p.m. deadline today to tell the family's lead trustee how they would vote on Murdoch's $5 billion offer to buy the company.
So far (7.00 PM Eastern time, Monday) no word. A News Corp. spokesman said the company was "highly unlikely" to go ahead with the deal if the level of support among the Bancroft's remained at a mere 28 percent of the shareholder vote, which The Wall Street Journal reported was the level of commitment from the family as of Sunday.
I can just imagine "The Wizard" in his Antipodean dugout threatening dire retribution to those members of the family who would dare to consider the maintenance of journalist standards to be more important than dumpster loads of filthy lucre. What the hell is the newspaper industry coming to. Signing off as your News Corporation "Fair and Balanced" reporter... Stay tuned for updates.
George Parker
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