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Dow Jones to ‘Take No Action’ on Murdoch Offer

After a four-and-a-half hour board meeting, directors of the Dow Jones & Company board said they would take no action on Rupert Murdoch’s $5 billion bid for the company.

According to the directors, the Bancroft family, Dow Jones’s controlling shareholder, opposes the offer, writes The New York Times. The board did not reject the offer outright, however, which means that Murdoch, known for his abilities as an undaunted deal maker, can still try to persuade the family.

Pressure to make a deal may come from hedge funds and arbitragers who have bought up much of the non-family shares of Dow Jones in anticipation of a deal. If the family shows no signs of considering the offer, the stock price may plummet. The article points out that it would take only a handful of Bancroft family members changing their positions to make a deal possible.

Dow Jones is working with Goldman Sachs and law firms Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The Bancrofts have hired Merrill Lynch and the law firm of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

Merrill Lynch was recently an adviser to the Tribune Company on its sale.