Will they or won’t they?

Keen to keep us all guessing, News Corp are now reported by the Wall Street Journal to be looking more likely to buy their parent company; the Dow Jones Media Group.

Late yesterday, share prices in Dow Jones, who own online news service Factiva, as well as the WSJ, fell, after a News Corp spokesperson confirmed that a buy out was now “highly unlikely”.

Despite offering $60-per-share for the organisation, Murdoch met resistance from members of the controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family. Less than a third of the family wanted the sale at the price offered which was enough to potentially scupper a deal. It seemed it was also the catalyst to ending the buy-out talks.

Since then, there are reports emerging that an arrangement has been made for certain costs to be covered that may sway key members in the vote. The BBC are reporting that “discussions were hinging on a proposal for the Dow Jones board to create a fund to cover the Bancroft’s' expenditure on corporate advisory fees, thought to be about $30m”.

When visiting Poland in June Murdoch told journalists  that he wanted the deal done in three weeks “or not at all”. Over a month later it looks like he has now waited long enough.

The controversial deal has also led to fears over the future editorial independence of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Murdoch has something of a reputation for a ‘hands-on’ approach to the editorial process in his other media outlets; these include The Sun, News of the World and Fox News and sparked initial worries of WSJ’s future independence among staff members when the announcement was made in May. WSJ journalists held protests in the lobby of their New York offices last month to voice their objections in selling to the tycoon. Murdoch has however promised to allow the WSJ to keep its editorial voice if News Corp were successful in their bid.

Meanwhile, the BBC also say that an alternate bid is being headed by MySpace founder, Brad Greenspan, who has support from five investor groups to see off the media mogul’s offer.
Educational publisher, and FT owner, Pearson, who were reported to have expressed an interest in the group, have remained tight lipped over that aspect of the deal today. Chief Executive Dame Marjorie Scardino preferred to play down talk that Murdoch may now set his sites on the FT “I don’t think that’s what he’s after… We’re not a mass market consumer paper and that’s what News Corp is used to running”.

***Update: It has emerged overnight that News Corp have been successful in their $5.6bn (£2.7bn) bid for the Dow Jones Media group. There is an interesting Q&A from the BBC on some of the more fundamental aspects of the deal.