The Journal Fire Sale
The Wall Street Journal is one of America ’s great newspapers. Granted, its editorial board is composed entirely by Martians, regularly adopting legal and economic theories that have no noticeable connection to reality. But their journalism is impeccable, both well-researched and well-written. People fear selling that paper to Rupert Murdoch for much the same reason they would dislike the notion of selling the Statue of Liberty to a known grafitti artist: His track record does not inspire confidence.
It is no secret that Mr. Murdoch wants to buy the WSJ so he can use its brand name to launch a new business cable TV network, to compete with CNBC and Bloomberg TV. This is the only reason why paying $5 billion makes sense: Because there are billions to be made by a successful business network, and a Wall Street Journal network would be extremely unlikely to fail. What confuses me is why the Bancrofts, the family who owns a controlling share of the paper, would rather Murdoch reap those billions, rather than themselves.
My best guess is this: The family that controls America ’s great business paper is just no good at business.
It is no secret that Mr. Murdoch wants to buy the WSJ so he can use its brand name to launch a new business cable TV network, to compete with CNBC and Bloomberg TV. This is the only reason why paying $5 billion makes sense: Because there are billions to be made by a successful business network, and a Wall Street Journal network would be extremely unlikely to fail. What confuses me is why the Bancrofts, the family who owns a controlling share of the paper, would rather Murdoch reap those billions, rather than themselves.
My best guess is this: The family that controls America ’s great business paper is just no good at business.
