Dow Jones & Company

Dow Jones & Company Inc.
Type Subsidiary
Industry News and Publishing
Founded 15 Wall Street, New York (1882)
Founder(s) Charles Dow, Edward Jones, Charles Bergstresser
Headquarters New York City
Key people

Les Hinton, CEO[1] (Through News Corporation),

Thomas A. Donohue (Industry Regulator),
Alex Kristof (Public relations advisor)
Products Wall Street Journal
Barron's Magazine
Dow Jones Newswires
Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Financial Information Services
Factiva
Far Eastern Economic Review
MarketWatch.com
SmartMoney
Vedomosti
FiLife.com
(See complete products listing.)
Revenue increase$1.5 billion USD (2006)
Net income increase$386.56 million USD (2006)
Parent News Corporation
Website www.dowjones.com

Dow Jones & Company is an American publishing and financial information firm.

The company was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. Like The New York Times and the Washington Post, the company was in recent years publicly traded but privately controlled. The company was led by the Bancroft family, which effectively controlled 64% of all voting stock, before being acquired by News Corporation.

The company became a subsidiary of News Corporation after an extended takeover bid during 2007.[2] It was reported on August 1, 2007 that the bid had been successful[3][4] after an extended period of uncertainty about shareholder agreement[5]. The transaction was completed on December 13, 2007. It was worth US$5 billion or $60 a share, giving NewsCorp control of The Wall Street Journal and ending the Bancroft family's 105 years of ownership[6]

Contents

Consumer media

Its flagship publication, The Wall Street Journal, is a daily newspaper in print and online covering business, financial national and international news and issues around the globe. It began publishing on July 8, 1889. Other editions of the Journal include:

Other consumer-oriented publications of Dow Jones include Barron's Magazine, a weekly overview of the world economy and markets; MarketWatch.com, the online financial news site; the monthly journal Far Eastern Economic Review; and the consumer magazine SmartMoney in conjunction with the Hearst Corporation.

Local media

Dow Jones also owns Dow Jones Local Media Group, which publishes several community newspapers in the U.S.

Enterprise media

The Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group provides financial news and information primarily to business customers. Its products combine content and technology tools to help drive decisions. Major brands include Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Indexes, Dow Jones Client Solutions and Dow Jones Financial Information Services.

Ventures

In 2009 Dow Jones Ventures launched FINS.com, a standalone resource for financial professionals with information about finance careers and the finance industry.

Broadcasting

In broadcasting, Dow Jones provides news content to CNBC in the U.S. It produces two shows for commercial radio, The Wall Street Journal Report on the Wall Street Journal Radio Network and The Dow Jones Report.

Indices

Dow Jones sold a 90% stake in its Index business for $607.5M to Chicago-based CME Group in February 2010.[7] A few of the most widely used include:

Ownership

The Bancroft family and heirs of Clarence W. Barron once effectively controlled the company class B shares, each with a voting power of ten regular shares, prior to its sale to News Corp. At one time, they controlled 64% of Dow Jones voting stock.[8]

Buyout offer

On May 1, 2007, Dow Jones released a statement confirming that News Corporation, led by Rupert Murdoch, had made an unsolicited offer of $60 per share, or $5 billion, for Dow Jones.[9] Stock was briefly halted for pending press release. The halt lasted under 10 minutes while CNBC was receiving data. It has been suggested that the buyout offer is related to Murdoch's new cable business news channel Fox Business that launched in 2007. The Dow Jones brand brings instant credibility to the project.[10]

On June 6, 2007, CEO Brian Tierney of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., owning company of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, went public in an article on Philly.com expressing interest in "joining with outside partners to buy Dow Jones." Tierney said, "We would participate as Philadelphia Media Holdings, along with other investors. We wouldn't do it alone." [11]

In June, MySpace founder Brad Greenspan put forth a bid to buy 25% of the Dow for $60 a share, the same price per share as News Corporation's bid. Greenspan's offer was for $1.25 billion for 25% of the company.[12]

On July 17, 2007, The Wall Street Journal, a unit of Dow Jones, reported that the company and News Corporation have agreed in principle on a US$5 billion takeover and that the offer will be put to the full Dow Jones board on the same evening in New York. The offer values the company at 70% more than the company's market value.[13]

"Our strategy centers around leaving the print publications of Dow Jones intact to continue serving as the gold standard of financial reporting, and creating additional earnings streams through digital media initiatives that can produce a stock price above 100 dollars a share,

For too long, Dow Jones has limited its focus to the world of print media and allowed other, less established entities to generate millions of dollars in profits by developing financial reporting franchises on the Internet and cable television.

The time has come for Dow Jones to break out of its slumber and extend its dominance into the lucrative arena of digital media."

—Channel News Asia Business Section— http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/289501/1/.html

Insider trading scandal

Upon investigating suspicious share price movements in the run-up to the announcement, the SEC alleged that board member Sir David Li, one of Hong Kong's most prominent businessmen, had informed his close friend and business associate Michael Leung of the impending offer. Leung had acted on this information by telling his daughter and son-in-law, who reaped a US$8.2 million profit from the transaction.[14]

Corporate governance

Prior to its sale to News Corp, the last members of the board of directors of the company were: Christopher Bancroft, Lewis B. Campbell, Michael Elefante, John Engler, Harvey Golub, Leslie Hill, Irvine Hockaday, Peter Kann, David Li, M. Peter McPherson (Chairman), Frank Newman, James Ottaway, Elizabeth Steele, and William Steere.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dow Jones - Executives at Dow Jones & Co Inc
  2. ↑ Pérez-Peña, Richard (December 13, 2007). "Shareholders Back Dow Jones Sale". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/business/media/13cnd-dow.html?_r=1&ref=media&oref=slogin. 
  3. ↑ BBC - Murdoch wins fight for Dow Jones
  4. ↑ Times Online - News Corp wins $5.6bn battle to control Dow Jones
  5. ↑ Times Online - Dow Jones board agrees News Corp's $5bn offer; July 18, 2007
  6. ↑ Bloomberg.com: Worldwide
  7. ↑ The Wall Street Journal (February 11, 2010). "CME Buys 90% of Dow Jones Indexes". http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703455804575057433840097028.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
  8. ↑ BBC News - Dow Jones family to consider sale - 1 June 2007
  9. ↑ Money.CNN.com
  10. ↑ thefirstpost.co.uk - Rupert Murdoch comes roaring back
  11. ↑ [1]
  12. ↑ Market Dispatches - MSN Money
  13. ↑ - "'Dow Jones, News Corp. Set Deal' - Wall Street Journal July 17, 2007
  14. ↑ The News Corp-Dow Jones Insider Trading Case: A Significant Settlement, SEC Actions, 6 February 2008

External links

Notes
  1. ↑ Sweet, Lynn (August 2, 2010). "In wake of Helen Thomas departure, Fox News moves to front row in W.H. briefing room". Chicago Sun-Times (Sun-Times Media Group). http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/08/in_wake_of_helen_thomas_depart.html. Retrieved August 2, 2010.