Results matching “will the bancrofts sell”

New potential buyers encouraged by the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, technicalities involving the selling of Class B shares, concerns over the independence of the Wall Street Journal, and now a plea from the New York Times for the Bancrofts not to sell to News Corp., are some of the main obstacles that have appeared before Rupert Murdoch. 

There is an interesting wrinkle in the potential Murdoch/Bancroft deal, which involves the shares owned by the Bancrofts. According to the Herald Tribune there are more than 20 million Class B shares of Dow Jones & Co. - the kind that the Bancroft’s own - and about 63.7 million Class A shares - the kind traded on the New York Stock Exchange. 

“We had a very long and constructive meeting,” Rupert Murdoch said of his meeting yesterday with the Bancrofts about his offer to buy Dow Jones & Co. The key point of the meeting was for Murdoch to assure the Bancrofts that the integrity of the company would be maintained should they sell. 

Today the Bancrofts and Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. are set to meet. The goal of today’s meeting is how to maintain journalistic integrity, at the Wall Street Journal in particular, should the Bancrofts sell to Murdoch. 

News Corp. might soon control Dow Jones & Co., after more than a century of its independence.The Bancrofts, who own the voting-majority stake of the company, have indicated that they would consider selling their share to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The Bancroft family also said that it would look at offers from other bidders.

Chairman and chief investment officer of T. Rowe Price, Brian Rogers, wants the Bancroft family to sell to Rupert Murdoch. T. Rowe Price is the largest stakeholder in Dow Jones & Co. outside of the Bancroft family, with $4.5 million in shares.