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Dow Jones & Company: Dow Jones Indexes Dow Jones and The Industrials
Dow Jones & Company: Dow Jones Indexes Dow Jones and The Industrials
Type Subsidiary
Industry News and Publishing
Thomas A. Donahue,
Barron's Magazine
Factiva
MarketWatch.com
SmartMoney
Vedomosti
FiLife.com
Website www.dowjones.com
Dow Jones & Company is an American publishing and financial information firm.
The company was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles
Bergstresser. Like The New York Times and theWashington Post, the company was in recent years
publicly traded but privately controlled. The company was led by the Bancroft family, which effectively
controlled 64% of all voting stock, before being acquired by News Corporation. In 2010, the company sold
90% of Dow Jones Indexes to the CME Group, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The company became a subsidiary of News Corporation after an extended takeover bid during 2007. [2] It
was reported on August 1, 2007 that the bid had been successful [3][4] after an extended period of
uncertainty about shareholder agreement.[5] The transaction was completed on December 13, 2007. It
was worth US$5 billion or $60 a share, giving NewsCorp control of The Wall Street Journal and ending
the Bancroft family's 105 years of ownership[6]
Contents
[hide]
1 Consumer media
2 Local media
3 Enterprise media
4 Ventures
5 Broadcasting
6 Indices
7 Ownership
o 7.1 Buyout offer
7.1.1 Insider trading
scandal
8 Corporate governance
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
[edit]Consumer media
Its flagship publication, The Wall Street Journal, is a daily newspaper in print and online covering
business, financial national and international news and issues around the globe. It began publishing on
July 8, 1889. Other editions of the Journal include:
The Wall Street Journal Asia covering news and business in Asia and around the world;
The Wall Street Journal Europe covering news and business in Europe and around the world;
The Wall Street Journal Special Editions, publishing translations of articles for inclusion in local
newspapers, notably in Latin America.
Other consumer-oriented publications of Dow Jones include Barron's Magazine, a weekly overview of the
world economy and markets; MarketWatch.com, the online financial news site; the monthly journal Far
Eastern Economic Review; and the consumer magazine SmartMoney in conjunction with the Hearst
Corporation.
[edit]Local media
Dow Jones also owns Dow Jones Local Media Group, which publishes several community newspapers in
the U.S.
[edit]Enterprise media
The Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group provides financial news and information primarily to business
customers. Its products combine content and technology tools to help drive decisions. Major brands
include Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Indexes, Dow Jones Client Solutions and
Dow Jones Financial Information Services.
[edit]Ventures
In 2009 Dow Jones Ventures launched FINS.com, a standalone resource for financial professionals with
information about finance careers and the finance industry.
[edit]Broadcasting
In broadcasting, Dow Jones provides news content to CNBC in the U.S. It produces two shows for
commercial radio, The Wall Street Journal Report on the Wall Street Journal Radio Network and The
Dow Jones Report.
[edit]Indices
Dow Jones sold a 90% stake in its Index business for $607.5M to Chicago-based CME Group in February
2010.[7] A few of the most widely used include:
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, "Dow 30", or often simply "The Dow")
Dow Jones Transportation Average
Dow Jones Utility Average
Dow Jones Composite Average
The Global Dow
Dow Jones Global Titans 50 Index
Dow Jones Total Stock Market Index
Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes
Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Indexes
Dow Jones Target Date Indexes
[edit]Ownership
The Bancroft family and heirs of Clarence W. Barron once effectively controlled the company class B
shares, each with a voting power of ten regular shares, prior to its sale to News Corp. At one time, they
controlled 64% of Dow Jones voting stock.[8]
[edit]Buyout offer
On May 1, 2007, Dow Jones released a statement confirming that News Corporation, led by Rupert
Murdoch, had made an unsolicited offer of $60 per share, or $5 billion, for Dow Jones. [9] Stock was briefly
halted for pending press release. The halt lasted under 10 minutes while CNBC was receiving data. It has
been suggested that the buyout offer is related to Murdoch's new cable business news channel Fox
Business that launched in 2007. The Dow Jones brand brings instant credibility to the project. [10]
On June 6, 2007, CEO Brian Tierney of Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., owning company of The
Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com, went public in an article on Philly.com
expressing interest in "joining with outside partners to buy Dow Jones." Tierney said, "We would
participate as Philadelphia Media Holdings, along with other investors. We wouldn't do it alone." [11][dead link]
In June, MySpace founder Brad Greenspan put forth a bid to buy 25% of the Dow for $60 a share, the
same price per share as News Corporation's bid. Greenspan's offer was for $1.25 billion for 25% of the
company.[12]
On July 17, 2007, The Wall Street Journal, a unit of Dow Jones, reported that the company and News
Corporation have agreed in principle on a US$5 billion takeover and that the offer will be put to the full
Dow Jones board on the same evening in New York. The offer values the company at 70% more than the
company's market value.[13]
"Our strategy centers around leaving the print publications of Dow Jones intact to continue serving as the
gold standard of financial reporting, and creating additional earnings streams through digital media
initiatives that can produce a stock price above 100 dollars a share,
For too long, Dow Jones has limited its focus to the world of print media and allowed other, less
established entities to generate millions of dollars in profits by developing financial reporting franchises on
the Internet and cable television.
The time has come for Dow Jones to break out of its slumber and extend its dominance into the lucrative
arena of digital media."
—Channel News Asia Business Section— [2]
Upon investigating suspicious share price movements in the run-up to the announcement, the SEC
alleged that board member Sir David Li, one of Hong Kong's most prominent businessmen, had informed
his close friend and business associate Michael Leung of the impending offer. Leung had acted on this
information by telling his daughter and son-in-law, who reaped a US$8.2 million profit from the
transaction.[14]
[edit]Corporate governance
Prior to its sale to News Corp, the last members of the board of directors of the company
were: Christopher Bancroft, Lewis B. Campbell, Michael Elefante, John Engler, Harvey Golub, Leslie
Hill, Irvine Hockaday, Peter Kann, David Li, M. Peter McPherson (Chairman), Frank Newman, James
Ottaway, Elizabeth Steele, and William Steere.