Dow Jones' Bancrofts: Time to Get Off The Pot

Enough already. The sanctimonious whining about what will become of Dow Jones' (DJ) glorious Wall Street Journal if it falls into News Corp.'s (NWS) Rupert Murdoch's nefarious hands is an annoying sideshow, one that has gone on far too long.

The Bancrofts have two futures: 1) Owners of a lot of moribund Dow Jones stock perpetually worth less than $30 a share, or 2) Former owners of a lot of Dow Jones stock sold for the amazing price of $60 a share. Time to pick one and move on.

The Journal is a business, not a national park. It is a business that currently produces a good product--which is why Murdoch wants to buy it. If Murdoch wrecks the product by turning it into a tabloid, the business will suffer. For more than seventy years, Murdoch has demonstrated that 1) he understands the newspaper business, and 2) he's not into suffering. So take Murdoch's generous offer and double your money--or reject it and forever face the wrath and ridicule of Dow Jones' other shareholders.