KEY POINTS:
The union representing Dow Jones employees enlisted the help of a Los Angeles supermarket magnate yesterday in their effort to prevent Rupert Murdoch buying their company and taking over America's flagship business publication, the Wall Street Journal.
The magnate, Ron Burkle, is one of the most powerful men in southern California and a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton. But his record on entering the media marketplace is distinctly mixed.
Two years ago, he lost out on a bid for Knight Ridder to the McClatchy group. Earlier this year, his ambitions to take over the Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times among other assets, was outflanked by a rival offer from the equities billionaire Samuel Zell.
For now, Burkle has committed himself only to exploring alternatives to Murdoch's offer of US$60 ($80) a share for Dow Jones - 65 per cent more than the market valuation of the company on the day he made his bid public at the end of April. The price has since gone past US$60 per share, as the prospect of a Murdoch buy has grown more solid.
The stakes have been raised considerably this week, because the Bancroft family, which owns 64 per cent of the voting power of Dow Jones, agreed to meet Murdoch after having previously dismissed any thought of a sale. Murdoch described Tuesday's talks as "constructive".
The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, which represents about 2000 workers at Dow Jones, has also approached the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has indicated it was unlikely he would want to buy Dow Jones.
The union is worried that a Murdoch takeover might compromise the independence of Dow Jones, and of the news pages of the Wall Street Journal in particular.
The editorial pages of the journal are infamous for their reactionary right-wing views, but the news coverage is respected across the board as scrupulously fair and fearless in standing up to powerful business leaders and politicians.
Murdoch, on the other hand, has a reputation for putting his political stamp on his titles - from the Times and the Sunday Times in the UK to Fox News and the New York Post in the US.
- INDEPENDENT
