Murdoch's WSJ?

Rupert Murdoch has made a bid to buy Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal. But as Joe Nocera reports, the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of Dow Jones stock, has

long harbored a deep dislike for the way Murdoch runs his newspapers. And they have long believed that turning the paper over to him—even at such a substantial premium—would be a betrayal of the Wall Street Journal’s glorious heritage as a great and serious newspaper, which they’ve owned for over 100 years.

So perhaps it wasn’t that much of a surprise that late yesterday afternoon . . . Michael B. Elefante, who now represents the Bancroft trusts on the Dow Jones board, issued a statement saying family members and trustees representing “slightly more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting power of Dow Jones” would vote against Mr. Murdoch’s proposal.

If that does happen, though—if the family tells Mr. Murdoch to take a hike—the likely outcome will be that Dow Jones stock will drop, not back to the mid-30s, where it was before yesterday, but far, far lower. And one has to wonder how the young Bancrofts will feel about Dow Jones’s heritage then. even at such a substantial premium—would be a betrayal of the Wall Street Journal’s glorious heritage as a great and serious newspaper, which they’ve owned for over 100 years.