News Corp completes acquisition of Dow Jones

NEW YORK: Media baron Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has concluded the deal to acquire Dow Jones, which publishes the respected The Wall Street Journal business daily, after the company's stockholders approved the bid.

The outcome has been on expected lines after Murdoch's offer of $60 per share, an irresistible 65 per cent premium over the price Dow Jones and Company had been trading at on the stock exchanges before Murdoch's bid.

Dow Jones said shares representing approximately 60.3 per cent of the outstanding voting power of the company were cast on Thursday in favour of the merger. Announcing the approval, Dow Jones said the stockholders' vote satisfies the final condition for the completion of the deal.

The two companies had signed an agreement and plan of merger on July 31. The merger became effective on Thursday.

The deal is touted as one of the biggest in the media domain. In investment banking parlance, it was talked about as 'Ruby' acquiring 'Diamond', eponymous subsidiaries involved in completing the transaction.

These words were on-record names for the two key parties executing the deal and were mentioned in the regulatory filings with US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Murdoch's media empire ranges from newspapers to TV channels across the world, while Dow Jones' top brands include The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Dow Jones Newswire.