Rupert Murdoch has an unlikely—and probably unwitting—ally in his quest to acquire Dow Jones & Company: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. Last month Hillary spelled out some of her positions on taxes and economics, including a plan to increase capital gains taxes in a way that might penalize the family that controls Dow Jones if they held off selling now.
The Bancroft family, which owns around 16.4 million supervoting Class B shares that allow it to control Dow Jones, would face a large capital gains tax bill if they sold their shares for cash instead of exchanging them for shares in another company. But many political observers expect the capital gains tax rate—currently 15%—to go up if a Democratic candidate is elected president, meaning that the Bancrofts might face an even larger tax bill if they sold their shares of Dow Jones in the future. They would also face a higher tax bill if they exchanged their Dow Jones stock for stock in another company and sold those shares later. Selling to Murdoch now might be the last opportunity the family has to avoid higher taxes.
Clinton has promised to raise capital gains taxes, and other democratic presidential candidates have followed suit. It’s highly improbable that Clinton’s tax policies are intended to aid Murdoch in his bid for Dow Jones but there’s no escaping the fact that objectively-speaking, as the Communists used to say, Clinton is working for Murdoch’s interests.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Murdoch and Clinton have found themselves on the same side. Despite his reputation as a political conservative, Murdoch became a supporter of Clinton while she was a US Senator, even hosting a fund-raiser for her.
Comments (8)
Leave a comment
You can log in with your account or comment as a guest below.
ALL THIS TALK ABOUT RUPE TRYING TO LAND DOWJONES…. WHERE THE HELL IS DOWJONE BOSS DICK ZANINO? WHERE DOES HE STAND IN ALL OF THIS? IS HE HOPING A DEAL HAPPENS OR NOT? WOULD HE STILL BE RUNNING DJ IF IT FALLS INTO THE HANDS OF OLD RUPE?
God help us all if a dem wins in 08. All of our taxes, not just capital gains, will go through the roof.
At least we won’t be pissing money away on bullshit wars like the republicans have managed to do for the last 6 years.
maybe in a perfect world we’ll get a a winning ticket of Rudy and Thompson, would it get better than that?
How about Rudy and Romney? (Assuming the former wins the primary and the latter takes the VP role).
The Ozzie is not a political conservative. He follows the money and celebrity. His political party is the Honey Honey party.
If a Dem wins in 08, Australia or NZ will start looking pretty good. I could buy a beach house there at a quarter of what my current place in California is worth, plus not have to deal with Dem socialists, hordes of third world immigrants, increasing violence, and overpopulation.
hf manager,
Believe me – you’re not the only one with that mindset. I guess Julian Robertson beat us all to it though. The real downside is trading US markets.