Dow Jones Director Resigns In Protest of News Corp. Bid
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Dow Jones & Co. director Dieter von Holtzbrinck, resigned, saying he couldn’t support the board’s recommendation that the Wall Street Journal publisher be sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. “I’m very worried that Dow Jones unique journalistic values will long-term strongly suffer after the proposed sale,” Mr. von Holtzbrinck said in a letter submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Directors of Dow Jones voted to back the $60-a-share bid, turning the company’s fate over to the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of the New York-based publisher. The Bancrofts are split over whether to sell the company they have controlled for more than 100 years to News Corp.
Mr. von Holtzbrinck, supervisory board chairman of the German publisher Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrink, along with Leslie Hill, a Bancroft family member who serves on the board, abstained from voting on the proposed offer, the Journal reported. “Dieter von Holtzbrinck has served Dow Jones with distinction as a director since 2001. The Board has accepted his resignation with regret and we wish him well,” chairman M. Peter McPherson said in a statement.
