Wordblog

The Bancroft family has accepted what was inevitable for the past three months and agreed to the sale of Dow Jones, which includes the Wall Street Journal, to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

The controlling family was split from the moment the offer was made and the pressure was on those who did not want to sell from many of the non-voting shareholders. The Dow Jones statement confirming the agreement says that a Bancroft or someone nominated by them ill get a seat on the News Corporation board.

The statement says: "…the parties have agreed on the terms of an editorial agreement that provides for the establishment of a five-member, special committee with the objective of assuring the continued journalistic and editorial integrity and independence of Dow Jones’ publications and services. The initial members of the special committee will be Louis Boccardi, Thomas Bray, Jennifer Dunn, Jack Fuller and Nicholas Negroponte."

Do I remember something similar when Murdoch acquired The Times in London?

But the question now is what does this all mean for the future of financial news? The new Fox business channel and development of the WSJ looks like a challenge to Pearson and the Financial Times.

Financial news and information is certainly going to get more competitive. Thomson (the company that sold The Times to Murdoch) has acquired Reuters for $17 billion — three times more than News Corp has paid for Dow Jones. That may be where the biggest battle will be.