This week in the Dow of Mudoch opens with the collective lenses of the media tightly focused on the key players—Rupert Murdoch and the Bancroft family.
(Of course, there’s also that news that Murdoch delivered to the family this morning and that the Bancroft’s are holding a meeting to discuss the offer. But we already touched on that stuff a little while ago. Now it’s time to delve into the fun bits: stalking the principals.)
As we predicted, journalists seem to be hunting down the Bancroft family where they live. Over the weekend, the Journal described the Bancroft’s as divided between those who “distrust Mr. Murdoch’s media conglomerate” and “those at least willing to hear what Mr. Murdoch has to say.” The Journal also ran a family tree—just like the New York Observer, but less cute—that broke the family down into three factions. The Hill family is “considered to be the most willing” to take Murdoch’s offer seriously. The Branch descended from Jane Hill are described as “the most fervent about maintaining the Wall Street Journal’s independence.” The rest, apparently, is anyone’s guess.
News Corp
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Bancroft
The Dow of Rupert, Part II: Can A Family Divided Against Itself Stand In The Way Of Murdoch?
By John Carney- Posted in:
Bancroft
The Dow of Murdoch: Rupert Murdoch Brings The Bancroft Family Together
By John CarneyThe family that controls 64% of the voting power of Dow Jones & Co is reportedly meeting right now to discuss News Corp’s bid for the company. David Faber of CNBC reported just a short while ago that the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones through its super-voting shares, was holding a conference call “right now” to discuss the bid. This may be a sign that the family is re-considering its rejection of the News Corp offer.
Today Bancroft family members received a letter from Rupert Murdoch stating that he regrets the details of the offer had become public and promising to establish an “independent, autonomous editorial board” to oversee the paper. In the letter, Murdoch describes himself as a “first and foremost…newspaper man,” praises the Wall Street Journal’s “journalistic independence and integrity” and says his is “unwilling to contemplate” any interference with the paper’s integrity. He writes that he would like to appoint a member of the Bancroft family to the board of Dow Jones.
“This letter may give the Bancroft’s a way to accept Murdoch gold , if that’s what they’re looking for,” an investment banker familiar with the deal told DealBreaker. “They’re haven’t been any other bidders, which must put pressure on them to accept this offer.”
Murdoch probably hopes that this is exactly what effect his letter will have. He’s steadfastly refused to offer more money than his original offer. Last week, CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino reported that he had been advised not to offer more by his bankers at JP Morgan had told him not to increase the bid. As we explained on Friday, Murdoch’s strategy to win over the Bancroft’s now appears to rely on charm and promises to not ruin the paper.
Murdoch also promises to make efforts to keep the team of “journalists, editors, management” of the Journal and other Dow Jones properties, expand the Journal in Europe and Asia and improve the Journal’s New York headquarters.
Text of Murdoch Letter to Bancrofts [Wall Street Journal]
News Corp & DJ Update [CNBC.com]
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Bancroft
The Dow of Murdoch: Is Rupert Losing Confidence? Or Is This Just A Deal Tactic?
By John CarneyThe story at the end of week two of News Corp’s bid for Dow Jones is clearly the loss of confidence that this will end in an acquisition. No other bidders have emerged. News Corp hasn’t made any gestures that it might increase it’s bid. Quite the opposite—word is spreading that News Corp won’t increase it’s bid and that News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch has told a close associate that he is not certain he will prevail.
Murdoch seems to be trying to use charm rather than money to win over the Bancroft family, which controls the company through its super-voting shares and has announced—through a representative on the Dow Jones board—that it isn’t going to take News Corp’s offer. He’s telling jokes. Keeping it light. On the News Corp earnings call he spoke of his admiration for the Bancroft family and Dow Jones management. And he’s more or less apologized for the fact that his offer became public, claiming he hoped to negotiate the deal in private—contrary to rumors that the leak came from News Corp. The point of this is to make nice with the Bancrofts, to take away the impression that Murdoch went public with his offer in an attempt to get the public shareholders to pressure the family into selling the company. No one likes to be strong-armed.
(After the jump: A completely paranoid deal judo conspiracy theory.)
By now everyone knows that Rupert Murdoch must convince members of the Bancroft family to accept his offer if he is going to succeed in buying Dow Jones. But who are these Bancrofts? The New York Observer offers up a family tree of the clan that controls the fate of Dow Jones. It’s a reconstruction from wedding announcements, obituaries and some amount of real reporting (talking to sources and that sort of thing.) The Observer finds that the Bancrofts are far from a monolithic group of Boston Brahmins. In fact, “they are small magazine owners, teachers, power-boat racers, philanthropists, farmers, roller-derby enthusiasts, male models, lawyers, a cappella singers and Montel Williams fans,” the Observer’s Felix Gillette writes. And, as DealBook pointed out this morning, one family member—who is described as a roller derby enthusiast—poses topless on her MySpace page.
At last night’s Alexander Hamilton dinner in midtown, Rupert Murdoch told a joke to the audience assembled by the Manhattan Institute. “Two rich guys walk into the Wall Street Journal,” Rupert began. This got a big laugh and Rupert then professed to have forgotten the rest of the joke.
The incomplete joke was the perfect metaphor for News Corp’s bid for Dow Jones & Co, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal. The bid hasn’t gone anywhere since the first day, sitting out there in a sort of deal limbo as Murdoch lobbies the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones through its super-voting Class B shares, to at least meet with him ad listen to his proposal. But that hasn’t stopped anyone from talking about it.
Murdoch may be cracking jokes in public but in private he has conveyed a different mood to his associates. A close advisor to Murdoch has said he may be losing confidence that he will prevail. Many observers of the deal, including David Carr of the New York Times, believe that Murdoch will eventually succeed in his attempt to acquire Dow Jones. But Murdoch himself may not be so confident these days, according someone familiar with Murdoch’s current thinking. The advisor said that Murdoch has expressed doubts about his ability to acquire the company in the face of continued opposition from the Bancrofts. The advisor went on to say that it is possible that this is a pose–that Murdoch is lowering expectations, as they say in politics.
It’s unlikely that Rupert Murdoch will be hatching the next phase of his campaign to buy Dow Jones tonight. Instead, he’ll be chowing down at Cipriani in midtown, where he is being honored at the Manhattan Institute’s annual Alexander Hamilton dinner.
Fortunately, Cipriani is just a few blocks away from the offices of Skadden Arps, News Corp’s lawyers. So if the Bancroft’s decide to return his calls tonight, he’ll be able to start wheeling and dealing in short order.
Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner [Manhattan Institute]
Center of the Action [New York Sun]
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Business Media
The New York Times Looks Inside The Wall Street Journal And Discovers A Neon Sign Proclaiming ‘Rupert Was Here’
By John Carney
If the phrase ‘jumped the shark’ hadn’t long ago done so itself, we might write that the news coverage of News Corp’s bid to buy Dow Jones jumped the shark this morning. The business news media is obsessed with the story—which just happens to be about the business news media. And sometime late last night and early this morning—to the sound of full-color print presses humming and newspaper delivery trucks idling—the coverage of the story really began to plumb the depths of its own navel.
This morning the New York Times delivered the news that—as the headline proclaimed—‘Wall St. Journal Editors Held News of Murdoch Bid.’ (Click here for Joe Weisenthal’s reaction in Opening Bell.) It’s a story that the Times editors viewed as important enough to run on the front page of the business section. So what we end up with is a story in a business section (the Times) about how a business news organization (the Journal) covered an acquisition about a business news organization (also the Journal). And now all the other business news organizations (CNBC, the wire services, DealBreaker) are reporting and commenting on that.
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