New York Times Fails to Buy Wall Street Journal

NewsMax ^ | 10/27/03 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Give a deep sigh of relief. The Democrat house organ known as the New York Times has failed in its attempt to buy the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, whose op-ed section (though not its news pages) are one of the few conservative voices in Big Media.

The Journal, for some reason using the New Yorker magazine as its source, reported today that Times Chairman Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. approached Dow Jones Co. and was turned down.

Sulzberger went to Dow Jones director Roy A. Hammer, who serves as trustee for the Bancroft family, Dow Jones's controlling shareholder, to propose a merger. Hammer rejected the idea, and Sulzberger followed up with a letter suggesting the Times acquire Dow Jones.

Hammer informed Dow Jones Chairman and Chief Executive Peter R. Kann but, without consulting the company's board, told Sulzberger again the company wasn't for sale, according to the New Yorker.

Hammer told the Journal that the Times's approach didn't go into details about how the two sides might join forces. "What I told [Sulzberger] was that the controlling stockholders would not be interested in disposing of their controlling interest in Dow Jones and that really was not a matter that required board consultation or approval," Hammer said, adding that the approach targeted the Bancroft family and not at Dow Jones as a company.

"From time to time there have been merger or acquisition inquiries from companies," Brigitte Trafford, a Dow Jones spokeswoman, told the Journal. "They have always been brought to the attention of the Bancroft family trustees and the board of directors. The Bancroft family and the board have always reaffirmed the company's intention to remain independent."

Hammer told the Journal that Sulzberger's "general thinking was that both the New York Times Co. and Dow Jones & Co. were relatively small compared with some of the media giants and that by combining forces in one way or another we would compensate for that size differential."

And the big fat bonus would be getting to muzzle the Journal's editorial writers and columnists. Let's see how the Times would enjoy being wooed by Dow Jones.

[Momaw Nadon]

Is there any possibility that the New York Times could be bought out?

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Yes, Dow Jones should turn the tables and go after NYT - - so they can appoint a publisher who is not a moron. They might consider acquiring the LA Times while they're at it.

[Eala]

Give a deep sigh of relief. The Democrat house organ known as the New York Times has failed in its attempt to buy the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, whose op-ed section (though not its news pages) are one of the few conservative voices in Big Media.

Yikes!! I didn't know this was going on. If they'd succeeded, what would I read at lunch??

[Eala]

Yes, Dow Jones should turn the tables and go after NYT - - so they can appoint a publisher who is not a moron. They might consider acquiring the LA Times while they're at it.

And the Seattle Times too.

[iceskater]

Yikes!! I didn't know this was going on. If they'd succeeded, what would I read at lunch??

I didn't know this might happen either. As to what to read at lunch - FR, what else! LOL

[Prodigal Son]

Yikes!!

No sh!t.

[Eala]

As to what to read at lunch - FR, what else! LOL

You got me there. Yep, just plug the WiFi card into the laptop and take it down to the lunchroom... (or for that matter, use the pocket PC instead...)

[Revolting cat!]

If they'd succeeded, what would I read at lunch??

I have found that McDonald's paper tray liners contain some interesting reading material, even puzzles and such...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It'd be the last WSJ I'd every buy.

[TRY ONE]

"Is there any possibility that the New York Times could be bought out?"

Would luv to see Larry Flint buy it --- a perfect fit for Penthouse sagging sales where the editors of both would fit in nicely AC/DC.

[Steve_Seattle]

Of course, the New York Times always editorially opposes media mergers, saying that they reduce diversity. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't try to do it themselves.

[Revolting cat!]

Bad luck and now #13!

[Revolting cat!]

The interesting question is how much of the decision to go after the WSJ was politically inspired. The WSJ never misses an opportunity to take shots at the New York Pravda, and I suspect that can cost them (the NYT), at least in Noo Yoke!

[nutmeg]

read later

[Uncle Hal]

The NY Times trying to buy the WSJ is terrible. The WSJ is the closest thing we have in the USA to a big circulation conservative newspaper. Their editorials and columnist are generally conservative and are pro free market. I do not always agree with them, but compaired to the NY times and the other liberal rags they are a breath of fresh air.

[only1percent]

Is there any possibility that the New York Times could be bought out?

No. The New York Times Co.'s corporate charter assures that it will be controlled by the Sulzberger family in perpetuity. A buyout would not compensate them for that lack of control, as they'd only get paid out on their "economic" (as opposed to control) interest in the company. Moreover, important family members regard the Times as a public trust, and, more significantly, see work for the company as the only thing that spares their kids and grandkids from the curses that more or less uniformly afflict the idle rich by the third or fourth generation.

[Bonaparte]

"Is there any possibility that the New York Times could be bought out?"

The possibility is tiny, and I have no idea why Sulzberger even approached them.

While it's true that the NYT company holdings and interests are greater than the WSJ's, WSJ is way ahead of the NYT in sales growth, net income growth, employee growth and circulation (WSJ: 1.8 million / NYT: 1.1 million). The Bancrofts control 65% of the WSJ vote.

[Momaw Nadon]

No. The New York Times Co.'s corporate charter assures that it will be controlled by the Sulzberger family in perpetuity.

Everybody has a price.

How much money would it cost to have the Sulzberger family change the New York Times Co.'s corporate charter?

[AZLiberty]

The plan was probably to appoint "journalist" Al Gore as WSH editor.