News Corp said on Thursday its hard-fought acquisition of Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co may be completed next week as the Dow Jones chief executive announced his departure.
"The acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corporation will be voted on by Dow Jones shareholders on December 13, 2007, and is expected to be completed shortly thereafter," said a statement issued by both companies.
News Corp, the conglomerate headed by Australian-born mogul Rupert Murdoch, clinched a deal earlier this year to take over the prestigious media group after members of the controlling family of shareholders accepted a US$5.6 billion takeover offer.
Meanwhile Dow Jones announced that CEO Richard Zannino plans to leave the company after the closing of the acquisition but would assist in the transition.
"I understand Rich's decision to seek new challenges," said Murdoch, who is chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp.
"Under his leadership, Dow Jones has reinforced its position as the premier provider of business news content and embarked on many new initiatives important to the company's future," Murdoch said.
"Dow Jones is about to begin a new chapter. Dow Jones fits perfectly into News Corp, and Rupert and I have been discussing since September my moving on from the company after the closing," Zannino said.
The Journal reported that Dow Jones veteran executive Les Hinton would become new CEO at Dow Jones and that Times of London editor Robert Thomson would be the new publisher of the daily. The Journal cited people familiar with the situation.
Some of the family members and journalists at the Journal had opposed the offer, fearing damage to the newspaper's integrity in a takeover by Murdoch, who has a reputation for meddling in editorial affairs.
The deal, pending expected approval by a shareholder vote, was sealed after members of the Bancroft family and trustees -- representing about 37 percent of the family's 64 percent voting power -- agreed to the sale, the two companies said.
The merger agreement addresses a key concern that had sharply divided the Bancrofts by calling for the editorial independence of the Journal, the leading US business newspaper.
In related news, Rupert Murdoch's 34-year-old son James, has been named chairman and chief executive of media giant News Corp in Europe and Asia, the group said in a statement yesterday.
News Corp said the appointment would "allow for more cohesive management" of the group's operating units, News International Sky, Sky Italia, STAR Group and News Corp Europe.
The younger Murdoch is currently chief executive officer at the Murdoch-controlled British-based satellite television broadcaster BSkyB, a post he has held since 2003.
He is to be replaced at BSkyB, in which News Corp is the leading shareholder, by financial director Jeremy Darroch.
In his new post James Murdoch will be responsible for development at the Wall Street Journal Europe, the Times and the Sun as well as Australian publications controlled by News Corp.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS