In its announcement that it would meet with Rupert Murdoch to discuss his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones (DJ), the founding Bancroft family said it would look at other bids.
Bluff? Perhaps.
But, if Dow Jones has any sense, it has begun to aggressively shop the company to a buyer more to its liking.
The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) would be a good partner, but it is weaker than Dow Jones because its print properties are in more trouble. Its market cap is also lower than the DJ figure.
Pearson (PSO), which has a market cap of almost three times DJ, would seem to be an ideal choice. It owns the Financial Times and The Economist. There are certainly economies between the FT and WSJ. It would also allow Pearson to get further into electronic news delivery.
A dark horse may be Time Warner (TWX). Its has substantial financial content assets, led by CNN Money and Fortune. CNN’s online presence might allow DJ to offer a 24-hour financial news channel to compete with CNBC. And, CNN’s online operations could incorporate MarketWatch and WSJ Online. Time Warner is large enough and it roots remain in the news business.
McGraw-Hill (MHP) should not be left off the list. It has a market cap of $24 billion and owns BusinessWeek and S&P. It could offer its magazine and the WSJ as a print and online package to advertisers and subscribers. S&P would be an ideal stable mate for the Dow Jones newswire and terminal system.
Talking to Rupert Murdoch may just be a way to buy time.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own shares in companies that he writes about.
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