Dow Jones' Bancrofts with 32 pct stock ok deal-WSJ

(Reuters) - That represents about half of the family's 64 percent ownership of the company's voting shares, likely more than enough to seal the News Corp deal, the Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.



Dow Jones owns the Wall Street Journal.


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European Insurance Stocks Gain; Friends Provident, Resolution Surge

(Bloomberg) -- European insurance stocks rose, led
by Friends Provident Plc and Resolution Plc after the U.K.
companies said they are in talks for a merger that would create
the U.K.'s fifth-biggest insurer.

Friends Provident jumped the most in more than two months,
while Resolution surged the most since March. Nestle SA dropped
after the Wall Street Journal reported the foodmaker is slimming
down its U.K. candy product range because nearly 40 percent of
its chocolate products made a loss or barely made a profit.


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U.S. Stocks Decline as Oil Rises; SanDisk, Dow Jones & Co. Shares Retreat

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell after oil rose
above $74 a barrel, spurring concern higher fuel prices may
hamper consumer spending and corporate profits.

SanDisk Corp., the world's largest maker of flash-memory
cards, declined after UBS AG downgraded the shares. Dow Jones &
Co. retreated after the Wall Street Journal reported that a
member of the publisher's controlling family is trying to block
its' sale to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.


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U.S. Stock-Index Futures Decline as Oil Rises; SanDisk, Dow Jones Retreat

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fell after
oil rose above $74 a barrel, spurring concern that higher fuel
prices may hamper consumer spending and corporate profits.

SanDisk Corp., the world's largest maker of flash-memory
cards, declined after UBS AG downgraded the shares. Dow Jones &
Co. retreated after the Wall Street Journal reported that a
member of the publisher's controlling family is trying to block
its' sale to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Dow Jones board member moves to block News Corp: report

(Reuters) - News Corp., owner of Fox News, the New York Post and a sprawling media empire, has offered $5 billion, or $60 a share, for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal.




Bancroft is trying to buy more "supervoting" shares from other Bancroft heirs who may be ready to sell their stakes but share his distaste for handing the family legacy to Murdoch, the Journal said.


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Whole Foods CEO's message posts trouble experts

(Reuters) - The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the
matter, reported on Friday that the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission had launched an informal probe of Mackey's
postings, in a sign the issue will not go away any time soon.




A Whole Foods spokeswoman said the company had not been
contacted by the SEC and was unable to comment on the report in
the journal's online edition.


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Murdoch to be talk of Sun Valley media festival

(Reuters) - Participants will watch closely for any move by the 76-year-old chief executive of News Corp., including a sudden departure from the event, as a sign of a deal that would give him control of The Wall Street Journal, one of the world's most influential business media outlets.




News Corp. hired Allen & Co., the media industry's go-to bankers, to advise on the bid. Perhaps that is one reason why Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino, a fixture at last year's Sun Valley but who hired Goldman Sachs, is not on the invitation list this year.


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U.S. SEC's country watch list draws fire

(Reuters) - Both business and humanitarian groups say the list,
available on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Web
site, is ill-conceived. The tool provides links to companies
whose annual reports contain "some reference" to business
related to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Iran and Cuba.




"Not only has the SEC named and shamed the wrong companies,
it's missed many with significant operations in countries like
Sudan," Adam Sterling, director of the Sudan Divestment Task
Force, and Todd Malan, president and CEO of the Organization
for International Investment, wrote in an opinion piece in
Thursday's Wall Street Journal.


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Futures signal weak start on liquidity worry

(Reuters) - In takeover news, Rupert Murdoch told Reuters on Wednesday he had no plan to raise his News Corp.'s bid for Dow Jones & Co. Inc. and said he is waiting for final approval of the proposed acquisition from the Bancroft family, which controls the publisher of the Wall Street Journal.




A weak Japanese currency has allowed investors to borrow cheaply in yen to buy higher-yielding assets elsewhere, a practice known as carry trade. The yen rose on Wednesday against the dollar and euro.


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US STOCKS-Futures point higher on growth optimism

(Reuters) - Dobson Communications Corp. kicked off a fresh
round of merger-and-acquisition chatter as the rural wireless
provider mulls strategic options, including a possible sale,
the Wall Street Journal Online reported.




Dow Jones & Co. Inc. and News Corp. are
nearing a pact that would preserve the editorial independence
of the Wall Street Journal if News Corp. acquired the media
company, according to newspaper reports.


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Dow Jones, Murdoch near pact on independence: report

(Reuters) - The Wall Street Journal said News Corp.'s offer had reduced the Bancroft family's involvement in the editorial protection system and Dow Jones was working on a counter-proposal.




Dow Jones declined to comment. News Corp. and the Bancroft family were not immediately available to comment.


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Dow Jones rival bid plan may include family: papers

(Reuters) - Selling Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, to GE and Pearson, would be a better journalistic fit than News Corp., but there is "no rush" to examine the plan, an unidentified Bancroft family member told the Financial Times.




GE owns the CNBC business television channel, and will face competition from News Corp., which is launching a business news channel of its own.


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