Funny how none of the big media companies or ultra-savvy private equity firms and hedge funds are bidding for Dow Jones (DJ). Buying Chrysler seems to have less risk.
But Brian Tierney, who took the two Philadelphia dailies private, has joined billionaire Ron Burkle, who wanted to but the LA Times, as possible bidders for Dow Jones.
The mix of bidders is a bit too odd for words. Rupert Murdoch probably wants the company for ego reasons. Owning The Wall Street Journal would be a trip. He claims that it will help him start a Fox business channel to compete with CNBC, but paying $5 billion for Dow Jones hardly seems to be a sensible way to reach that goal.
Tierney and Burkle don’t know much more about newspapers than what they read in the newspapers. Since moving into the captain’s chair in Philly, Tierney has done little more than fire people to try to save money as advertising revenue falls. He clearly has a keen imagination for turning around print properties.
No major media company or private equity firm is coming anywhere near Dow Jones. At $60, Murdoch’s bid is about 80% more than the markets said the company was worth. And, the markets are generally pretty close to being right.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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