KEY POINTS:
James Ottaway jnr, whose family controls 6.2 per cent of voting rights at Dow Jones & Co, says a US$5 billion ($6.8 billion) takeover bid by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp threatens the publisher's editorial integrity.
The Dow Jones brand name and its reputation for "accurate, fair, objective and reliable business news reporting" would be "damaged" if News Corp. acquired the company, Ottaway wrote on the Wall Street Journal's website. His son, Jay, voiced similar opposition.
"Rupert Murdoch comes from a very different tradition of Australian-British media ownership and editorial practice in which he has for a long time expressed his personal, political and business biases through his newspapers and television channels," James Ottaway said.
Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, said last week that its board would not act on News Corp's May 1 offer of US$60 a share because Bancroft family members, who have 52 per cent of the voting power, opposed the bid. The stand by Ottaway family members increases the opposition to at least 58 per cent.
The Ottaways acquired their stake in Dow Jones in 1970 when the company bought the family's chain of community newspapers.
-BLOOMBERG
