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Last week, Rupert Murdoch, in a familiar role as insurrectionist, upset the already turbulent media landscape with his $5 billion offer for Dow Jones & Co. chairman say that last week was nothing compared with what's in store if he acquires the property. The combined properties would offer marketers access to outlets around the world and on every conceivable media platform -- including the planned Fox Business cable channel -- and take market share away from rivals like CNBC, Reuters and the Financial Times. Furthermore, The Wall Street Journal would vie with The New York Times to shape the national agenda on issues of politics as well as finance. "The Journal will be a counterbalance to the influence of the Times nationally, which Murdoch regards as very liberal," says Ken Chandler, who worked at News Corp. papers, including the New York Post, for nearly 30 years. "I compare what he would do there to what he did to CNN when he started the Fox News Channel." chairman would not meddle in the day-to-day running of the Journal's news gathering. "If there were a change in editors, he would bring in someone who would share his worldview," Mr Chandler says. "That editor would have the freedom to run the paper as he wants." Mr Murdoch has assured members of the Bancroft family, who hold the controlling interest in Dow Jones, that he would respect the Journal's editorial integrity and invest in its news-gathering operations. The business channel Fox is set to launch in the fourth quarter would become a much more formidable player if it could be branded with the Dow Jones name, as Mr Murdoch told the Times he would like to do. While CNBC has the exclusive use of Journal reporters on air until 2012, Mr Murdoch could find a way to break its contract. Multimedia package Potentially most devastating to rivals could be News Corp's ability to leverage Dow Jones' assets across an assortment of outlets. The Journal, for instance, could offer national newspaper advertisers a neatly tied-up multimedia package. "You could have a completely integrated offering, with Fox News, Fox Business, the Fox television network," says Michael Neiss, a vice president at Zenith Media.
may also offer a solution to Dow Jones' inability to grow. Mr Murdoch has promised to expand the company's foreign operations, where current management has been retrenching. Reinvigorating the paper's European and Asian editions and its newswires would pose a direct challenge to the Financial Times and Reuters. "The ability of the Journal to become global in its reach even more than it already is would be of deep concern to any competitors," says Colby Atwood, vice president of media research firm Borrell Associates Inc. Family remains opposed Of course, Mr Murdoch still has to convince the Bancrofts to accept his $60-per-share offer. So far, family members whose shares represent 52% of Dow Jones' voting power remain opposed. The employees union has also joined in, saying News Corp. would skew coverage and destroy the Journal's reputation. failed in its effort to combine newspapers and television. In addition, some analysts, echoing Mr Murdoch's critics, consider News Corp. "The Journal is known for forthright, independent news coverage," says newspaper analyst John Morton. "You couldn't say that Fox News' coverage, or that of any of the other News Corp.
Mr Murdoch's offer, which represents a 67% premium over the recent Dow Jones stock price, could prove hard to resist -- particularly if he raises it. could afford to spend heavily because it would find so many uses for Dow Jones' content. Other media companies that might once have been interested in Dow Jones are in no position to pony up that kind of money, and no one else would have reason to. "It's a very strong price," says Reed Phillips of media banking firm DeSilva & Phillips.
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