By Dawn Chmielewski, Greg Roumeliotis and Anirban Sen
LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Michael Bloomberg has expressed a desire to own a major newspaper over the years, but has not contacted Rupert Murdoch to discuss a possible purchase of Dow Jones and its flagship newspaper the Wall. Street Journal, sources told Reuters.
News site Axios reported earlier Friday that the billionaire owner of Bloomberg LP was interested in acquiring either WSJ parent company Dow Jones from Murdoch’s News Corp or Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post from Amazon.com. , citing a source familiar with Bloomberg’s thinking.
Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that no approach had been made from Bloomberg’s side to Murdoch. A Washington Post spokesperson, which Bezos bought in 2013 for $250 million, said it was not for sale.
The acquisition of a major newspaper has already attracted interest from Bloomberg, including the New York Times and the Financial Times.
Either acquisition would give the 80-year-old billionaire trophy media ownership to publicize his political agenda, such as fighting climate change or pushing for tougher gun laws, sources told Reuters. Bloomberg is a former three-term mayor of New York who also mounted an unsuccessful presidential bid in 2020, seeking to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.
“An acquisition of the (Post) by Bloomberg is not necessarily a simple business decision. Mike B is a political/political person – mayor, presidential candidate – and such an acquisition would provide a tool to influence public policy in Washington “said Eli Noam, professor emeritus at columbia university’s school of business.
A merger with the Journal or Dow Jones would create a financial data and information giant, strengthening Bloomberg’s hold on the industry while attracting the attention of antitrust regulators. Bloomberg is the 12th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $76.8 billion, according to Forbes calculations.
According to Axios, Bloomberg sees Dow Jones, also publisher of Barron’s and MarketWatch, as the ideal fit, but would buy the Post if Bezos wanted to sell.
A Bloomberg LP spokesperson dismissed the report as speculation and said, “There is nothing to comment on.” Dow Jones did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Michael Bloomberg and Bezos did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a spokesperson for Rupert Murdoch declined to comment.
It’s unclear whether Murdoch – which is trying to combine its News Corp and Fox Corp assets – would be open to considering an offer from Bloomberg, one person said.
ANTI-COMPETITION INTEREST
Antitrust experts have agreed that merging the business information divisions of Bloomberg and Dow Jones would draw scrutiny from U.S. regulators, especially as the Biden administration has taken a tougher approach to enforcing antitrust laws. .
Companies could be forced to diversify their business holdings to appease officials anxious to maintain competition in the economic news market, some experts have said.
“They will be interested in the alternative choices available to users of financial news services and business journalism (…) as well as the impact, if any, on the labor market of financial journalists “said antitrust attorney Jonathan Rubin.
The Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission declined to comment.
Shares of News Corp closed up 2.8% on Friday, outpacing modest gains in the broader market.
Murdoch’s efforts to reunite his media empire nearly a decade after the company split have been met with stiff opposition from several shareholders who say a combination would not realize News Corp’s full value.
Activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which owns about 2% of News Corp’s Class B voting stock, wrote a November letter to Murdoch and the News Corp board saying Dow Jones would be highly valued. as a listed company.
“The WSJ is a trophy property of the Murdoch family,” said Craig Huber, media analyst at Huber Research Partners.
Media analyst Claire Enders of UK firm Enders Analysis said the Axios report is unlikely to lead anywhere. “That’s not happening. The WSJ is News Corp’s core asset,” she said.
Reuters competes with Dow Jones and Bloomberg News, a unit of Bloomberg LP, a financial news provider.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, Greg Roumeliotis and Anirban Sen in New YorkAdditional reporting by Nivedita Balu, Aditya Soni and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru, Alexandra Alper in Washington, Raphael Satter in London and Milana Vinn in New YorkWriting by Karl PlumeEditing by Nick Zieminski and Matthew Lewis)
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