Brett Arends
Several members of the Bancroft family serve on the Dow Jones board of directors. In total, the 23 directors and officers hold 17.2 million shares. Those shares gained $360 million in a few seconds yesterday as the stock price soared to $56.20 from $36.33.
Current and recent Dow Jones board members include plenty of movers and shakers, such as Harvey Golub, the former American Express (AXP Quote - Cramer on AXP - Stock Picks)boss who now runs Campbell Soup (CPB Quote - Cramer on CPB - Stock Picks), and Washington fixer Vernon Jordan, a former adviser to President Clinton who retired from the board last year. Both would stand to make more than $400,000 each from their stock in a $60 takeover. For them, of course, that's petty cash. But every little bit helps, even at the top. Whether the price stays up near $60, amid further bid speculation, remains to be seen. But if it does, it will come as an enormous relief to the executives. They are all holding share options that were worthless until yesterday morning -- the share price had collapsed well below the exercise price. Many options only have value if the stock rises above $40 or even $50. A case in point is Peter Kann, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who retired as chief executive last year. Kann, who serves on the board along with his equally distinguished wife, Karen Elliott House, just stood down as chairman. Public filings show that as of January he owned just over 800,000 shares and stock options. The problem? Until yesterday, most of his options were worthless. Murdoch's $60 bid would value those shares and options at $14.9 million.
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