Dow Jones CEO to Depart Following Merger

Updated from Dec. 6

Back when the Bancroft family was anguishing over whether to sell Dow Jones (DJ) to News Corp. (NWS), the publisher's CEO, Rick Zannino, expressed a desire to stay on the job even if the company was sold.

Likewise, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said he did not plan to replace Zannino or the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, L. Gordon Crovitz.

Now, with the final shareholder vote on the buyout one week away, that has changed.

Dow Jones said Thursday that Zannino will leave the company after the closing of its $60-a-share buyout -- already a foregone conclusion since the Bancrofts, the company's controlling shareholders, have committed enough support to seal the deal.

"Rupert and I have been discussing since September my moving on from the company after the closing," Zannino said in a statement. I will leave Dow Jones knowing the best is yet to come for readers, customers and employees under Rupert's leadership."

News Corp. is expected to announced that Les Hinton, the chairman of News International, will replace Zannino as CEO of Dow Jones, according to The Journal, which also reported that Times of London editor Robert Thomson will become publisher of the newspaper. Both the replacements have long ties to Murdoch.

A former finance exec at Liz Claiborne (LIZ) and Saks (SKS), Zannino was the first Dow Jones CEO with no background in journalism. The company was put in play just 15 months into his tenure, after Murdoch's buyout offer was leaked to CNBC, sending the company's shares soaring 70% in one day.