Newspaper Stocks Climb on Dow Jones Bid

News of News Corp.'s unsolicited $5 billion offer for the Dow Jones & Company empire has propelled other newspaper companies' shares in mid-day trading: The New York Times Company’s shares surged 7.1% to $25.07, Pearson plc ADRs are up 5.5% to $17.99, Reuters Group plc ADRs have gained 3.7% to $59.37, Gannett shares are up 3.2% to $58.91, Washington Post Co. is up 2.7% to $764.25, Lee Enterprises shares have gained 5.8% to $27.75 and McClatchy Company stock is up 4.3% to $30.14 as of 3:02 p.m. ET.

Sources: Google Finance
Commentary: News Corp. Offers $60/Share for Dow Jones • Murdoch To Buy Dow Jones? • News Corp. Bids $60 a Share for Dow Jones [NYT DealBook]
Stocks/ETFs to watch: News Corp. (NWS), Dow Jones & Company Inc. (DJ), The New York Times Co. (NYT), Pearson plc (PSO), Reuters Group plc (RTRSY), Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI), Washington Post Co. (WPO), Lee Enterprises Inc. (LEE), McClatchy Company (MNI)

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Comments

[David Jackson:]

Dow Jones has unique content, powerful brands, excellent management and a significant online presence, factors which are not necessarily true for some of the other newspaper stocks. My guess is that some of these stocks will trade back down. Remember also that the Tribune bid was at a low premium, so the newspaper space generally isn't exactly a bidding battlefield.

And look at what Bill Nygren recently wrote about newspaper stocks.

Full disclosure: short LEE.

2007 May 01 02:04 PM