In the end, greed won out; the Bancroft family gave in to Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal is now part of his media empire. The familiy insisted on an "independent editorial committee" to ease their guilt as they deposit Murdoch's $$billions in their bank accounts; nobody takes that seriously, for Murdoch has never hid his desire to use his media assets to further his vision of "Ordo-Liberalism" (Süddeutsche Zeitung):
Längst aber ist er einer, der die Gesellschaft nach seinen ordoliberalen Prinzipien ausrichten will, und hierfür geeignete Helfer aufbaut oder verstößt, je nach Eignung. In England machte er vor zehn Jahren Schluss mit den Tories unter dem langweiligen John Major und favorisierte lieber Tony Blair. Der charismatische Held von New Labour zeigte sich erkenntlich. (HT: Der Spindoktor)
So let's take a minute and salute Dieter von Holtzbrinck, the only member of the Dow Jones board of directors to resign in protest of Murdoch's takeover. Von Holtzbrinck acknowledged that the financial terms were generous to the shareholders, but, based on Murdoch's past practices, he feared the journalistic integrity and excellence of the Wall Street Journal would be destroyed:
In a letter to the 15 remaining directors dated yesterday and sent from Stuttgart, Germany, von Holtzbrinck wrote: "Sorry that I couldn't support the recommendation which got board approval. . . . Listening to our lawyers, one has to vote for a deal which is in the best [financial] interest for the shareholders, except if one can prove that such deal bears risks for the company that overcompensate the financial profits.
"I cannot prove that my worries are right. I can only refer to News Corp. business practices in the past." Von Holtzbrinck wrote that he does not believe that a proposed editorial buffer between the Journal and Murdoch "can finally prevent Murdoch from doing what he wants to do, from acting his way."
RIP, WSJ. I hope that Murdoch will be too distracted with his shiny new toy that he will not try to punish von Holtzbrinck for his "treachery" by taking over the Handelsblatt.
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