GE and Pearson Will Not Pursue Dow Jones

General Electric and Pearson plc, publisher of the Financial Times [FT], have decided not to pursue an acquisition of Dow Jones & Co., the companies announced Thursday. In April, Dow Jones received a $60 per share offer from Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp. GE owns NBC Universal, which operates business news channel CNBC. CNBC will soon face a new rival in Murdoch's Fox Business Channel, to be launched this fall. GE and Pearson had discussed spinning off CNBC and the FT into a closely held unit that would then buy Dow Jones. Sources close to the companies say they decided they could not justify an offer equal or superior to Murdoch's $5 billion bid, though they will continue to discuss cooperation between CNBC and the FT. The Bancroft family, which holds a controlling stake in Dow Jones and has resisted the Murdoch offer on concerns about editorial independence, has not commented. Yesterday, the Dow Jones board took over takeover negotiations from the Bancrofts, a move widely expected to hasten a sale. Although no rival bidder has emerged with an offer for the entire company, MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan has offered $60 per share for a 25% stake.

Sources: Dow Jones Newswire, Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times
Commentary: Pearson and GE Considering Joint Bid for Dow Jones • Matchmaker, Matchmaker: Pearson Looks For Partner To Beat News Corp. For Dow Jones Bid • Is Brad Greenspan the Bancrofts' White Knight?
Stocks/ETFs to watch: Dow Jones & Company Inc. (DJ), Pearson plc [ADR] (PSO), General Electric Co. (GE), News Corp. (NWS). ETFs: PowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio ETF (PBS)
Conference call transcripts: Dow Jones Q1 2007, News Corporation F3Q07, General Electric Q1 2007

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