NEW YORK (AP) — Rupert Murdoch’s bid for Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. appears to have won enough support from the company’s controlling shareholders to ensure its passage, the newspaper reported today.
The Journal reported that a key family trust has reversed its position and decided to support the deal. That likely means Bancroft family members and trusts holding about 38 percent of the total vote are in favor of the takeover by Murdoch’s News Corp.
However, a spokesman for the family said the polling process among Bancroft family members and their trustees was continuing and that it was premature to conclude that a specific level of support had been reached. The Bancroft family controls 64 percent of the company’s shareholder vote through a complex series of trusts.
The vast majority of the 29 percent vote held by public shareholders is expected to approve the deal, but Mr. Murdoch’s media conglomerate wants to ensure a comfortable margin for passage in the likely event some public shareholders don’t vote.
News Corp. has said it would proceed only if it felt there was enough support among the Bancrofts, but it hasn’t specified what that level is. A News Corp. spokesman said yesterday that the company was “highly unlikely” to proceed with the deal if support from the family remained at the level reported at that time about 29 percent.
News Corp.’s board was scheduled to meet yesterday afternoon, and Dow Jones directors were set to meet this evening.
Dow Jones shares rose sharply today on hopes that a deal was close, and they were getting closer to Mr. Murdoch’s offering price of $60 a share, indicating growing confidence the deal will go through. In afternoon trading, Dow Jones stock rose $6.02, or 11.7 percent, to $57.58.
Members of the Bancroft family, which has controlled Dow Jones for a century, had a 5 p.m. deadline yesterday to tell the family’s lead trustee how they would vote on Mr. Murdoch’s offer.
Negotiations apparently continued over other matters in an attempt to persuade holdout Bancroft votes to sign on to the deal. The Journal reported today that Dow Jones’ board had agreed to set aside funds to pay the Bancroft family’s advisory fees, which could total at least $30 million.
The Bancroft family has been deeply divided over whether to sell to Mr. Murdoch, largely over concerns that his management style could affect the paper’s coverage.
Mr. Murdoch says any concerns about corporate meddling in the Journal’s news coverage are unwarranted. News Corp. has agreed to create a committee that would have to sign off on any decision to hire or fire top editors at the paper.
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