Dow Jones Plays Hard to Get

The living members of the trust may be tempted to keep Dow Jones and its crown jewel, The Journal, out of the hands of a media maven like Murdoch, who makes no pretense of editorial independence at his news divisions, like Fox News and the New York Post.

For this reason, opposition to the deal is strong in the Journal's newsroom.

"Mr. Murdoch has shown a willingness to crush quality and independence, and there is no reason to think he would handle Dow Jones or The Journal any differently," said the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, a union representing Dow Jones employees. "Despite our differences of opinion with current management, we strongly encourage the Bancrofts to continue to stand up for the institution's independence, and to walk away from this offer."

While the Bancrofts ultimately hold all the power, declining such an eye-popping offer could cause a severe uproar among the other shareholders.

"They could be open to some kind of lawsuits if they try to resist something like this," says Atorino.

Refusing such a rich deal also may scare away any other potential bidders, who already didn't have much room to offer a significantly higher price.

Previous sales of other newspaper publishers, like Tribune (TRB Quote) and Knight-Ridder, revealed that even deep-pocketed acquirers like private-equity firms are loath to pay a big premium for a newspaper company in today's environment.

Because private-equity firms are pure financial buyers, Dow Jones is presumably worth less to them than to Murdoch, who also is interested in wielding the political influence and prestige that comes with owning the Journal, the most influential media asset in the world of business and finance.