July 31, 2007 12:37

The Journal is Murdoch's, it appears

The W$J is reporting that Rupert Murdoch now has enough votes lined up to buy Dow Jones & Co. This after News Corp. intimated yesterday that it was about to give up. What changed things was apparently the decision by those in charge of a Denver-based Bancroft family trust that controls 9.1% of Dow Jones voting shares:

Helping persuade the Denver trust to change its mind was a decision by Dow Jones's board to create a fund to cover payments to firms advising Bancroft family members, including Merrill Lynch and the law firms Hemenway & Barnes and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. News Corp. would assume these liabilities if it bought Dow Jones. The fees could total at least $30 million, according to people familiar with the situation.

After all that high-minded talk about editorial independence, then, it all turned on closing costs. Just like buying a house.*

* Idea stolen from James Poniewozik, who mentioned it as I passed him in the hall a minute ago.

Update: I've got a Time.com piece about the deal here.

Update 2: Now it's official. Although it's not really over until the shareholders actually vote.