Bloomberg Owner Wants to Buy Dow Jones or Washington Post

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg News, is interested in acquiring Dow Jones, parent of the Wall Street Journal, or the Washington Post, reported the Axios news site on Friday (23), citing a source familiar with the matter. .

Axios, citing the source, said Bloomberg is interested in a possible takeover of either company, but Dow Jones would be a prime target.

Dow Jones, controlled by News Corp, publishes the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch. According to Axios, Bloomberg considers the company best suited to its media group, but would leave for the Post if Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is interested in selling.

Bloomberg, Washington Post and Dow Jones declined to comment.

In October, Rupert Murdoch began restructuring his media empire to bring together News Corp and Fox nearly a decade after the companies split. The proposal was opposed by shareholders, who felt that a combination alone would not unlock News Corp’s full value. Instead, shareholders suggested a separation of digital assets or Dow Jones as an alternative to the merger.

Craig Huber, a media analyst at Huber Research Partners, said he would be “shocked” if Murdoch sold the Wall Street Journal, and that he likely told his family not to sell it either.

“The WSJ is a trophy for the Murdoch family,” he said, adding that the speculation was likely a result of the businessman’s plan to reunite his media empire.