Murdoch Wins Bid for Dow Jones 世紀之交易？

世紀之交易？

WSJ 換老闆，它的報導是

Murdoch Wins
Bid for Dow Jones

Bancroft Family Agrees
To $5 Billion Offer
After Deal on Fees

A New Owner for Journal

我看不懂 DEAL ON FEES 的意思。不過看了{紐約時報}的Dealbook 說明，知道這是賣方要求「拿清的」，要求買方Murdoch 付律師等費用：下文還說據英國FT分析，WSJ 控制股東家族在談判上根本是”小巫見大巫”，業餘的。文後還開澳洲紅酒慶祝…..

TOP STORY

Murdoch and Dow Jones: How The Deal Got Done

While Rupert Murdoch finally won his long-coveted prize -- gaining enough support from the deeply divided Bancroft family to buy Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal -- closing the $5 billion deal was a marathon of conference calls and all-nighters for those involved in the deal-making process.

Following four months of back-and-forth, during which some three dozen members of the family engaged in an intense, sometimes tearful debate about The Journal's future, the boards of both Dow Jones and Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation voted Tuesday night to approve the deal. In a press release early Wednesday, Dow Jones said it had signed a "definitive merger agreement" under which it would be acquired by News Corp.

Speaking to The New York Times, James B. Lee of J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, who has represented clients in some of the biggest deals in history, said of Mr. Murdoch, "nobody else I have ever banked could have pulled it off."

With their majority voting stake in Dow Jones, the Bancroft family seemed to be in a powerful position early in the process. But The Financial Times's Lex column suggests they were vastly outgunned by Mr. Murdoch from the start. "It was a mismatch of arch-dealmaker against a group of amateurs," Lex wrote.

The Times's David Carr, writing in his Media Equation column, describes Mr. Murdoch's success as "a reminder that the unthinkable is often doable, given the loot and the will."

The Times notes that the final decision was in doubt well past the 5 p.m. Monday deadline set for the family. In a twist in already tortured negotiations, some family trustees apparently demanded that the News Corporation pay the fees for the family's bankers and lawyers, which could reach $40 million, in return for their support. After an exhausting night of conferences calls, the deal was made.

News Corp.'s board signed off on the deal at a late-afternoon meeting, The Journal said -- and then top executives and advisers toasted their coup with an Australian Shiraz.

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