»
Rupert Murdoch has said that his meeting yesterday (Monday) with Dow Jones’s controlling family, the Bancrofts, to discuss News Corp.’s $5 billion bid for the company was “constructive” and lasted several hours, writes MarketWatch.
Speculation has it that the Bancroft family may want control over the Wall Street Journal editorial board, but Murdoch has said that he would not buy the newspaper unless he could run it. He has, however, said that he would appoint an oversight committee to ensure that the paper’s editorial integrity remains untouched.
Meanwhile, billionaire investor Ron Burkle has said that he is interested in bidding for Dow Jones, along with the union that represents Journal employees, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer. Steve Yount, president of the Dow Jones union, said Burkle was only the first of several potential bidders to make their interest known.
Burkle - together with fellow billionaire Eli Broad - recently bid for the Tribune Co. The company, however, eventually agreed to be taken private in a deal sponsored by Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell.
All sectors of the media business will suffer from the weakened economy in 2008 and 2009, with a slump in local advertising particularly hurting newspapers and local TV, according to a new projection from Goldman Sachs.
Broadcast nets will experience…
The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller…
Unilever’s Vaseline set forth on an unusual research project in a small town in Alaska. Setting up a storefront, the company began giving away free bottles of lotion and asking recipients to name the person who had recommended they come…
Meet the Press, the show hosted by Tim Russert for 17 years before his death last June, is beginning to slip in ratings.
Last month, CBS’s Face the Nation pulled ahead of Meet the Press for the first time in two…
Bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years, according to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, MarketingCharts writes.…
Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
