A Tale of Two Mergers

In the media/Internet sector, the past year has seen two important mergers: News Corp. + Dow Jones and Microsoft + Yahoo. Though I am no expert in M&A, it has been interesting to watch the two play out.

When the Wall Street Journal was about to be purchased, the typical concerns over Murdoch’s editorial style were rampant. The WSJ is a stalwart of good, honest content without bias. News Corp. publishes the NY Post and other tabloid style papers. Are they compatible? Regardless, the offer was too sweet for a public company to turn down and Dow Jones was bought. It turns out not all of the WSJ is compatible and the Managing Editor is stepping down (or being forced out, perhaps).

Now, with Yahoo and Microsoft we have seen a media-laden dance as Yahoo desperately tries to avoid being purchased by a company which in many ways comes from a different era and different approach to business. They’ve gone so far as to run Google ads on their search results in an attempt to boost revenue before tomorrow’s release of Q4 data. 

Although some, including Arrington,  think the deal will and must happen, I wonder why Dow Jones did not make the same valiant effort to avoid their take-over.