News Corp. Completes Purchase of Dow Jones
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Rupert Murdoch completed his $5 billion-plus deal to acquire Dow Jones & Co. yesterday, adding the Wall Street Journal to his global media conglomerate News Corp., and ending a century of control by the Bancroft family. A longtime News Corp. publishing executive, Les Hinton, will be chief executive, while the editor of Mr. Murdoch’s the Times newspaper in London, Robert Thomson, will be publisher. Several Dow Jones executives are departing, including the chief executive officer, Richard Zannino.
Shareholders approved the deal by a margin of 60.3%. About 78% of the company’s publicly traded shares were voted for the deal, while 54% of the Class B shares, which are largely held by the Bancrofts, were in favor.