MySpace founder in Dow Jones bidding

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Rupert Murdoch made Brad Greenspan a wealthy man when News Corporation bought EUniverse and its MySpace subsidiary. Now Greenspan wants to challenge Murdoch in bidding for Dow Jones & Company. Greenspan's offer is to buy about a quarter of Dow Jones' stock, so it would not be a complete buyout as Murdoch has proposed for five billion bucks.


The Greenspan deal would pay current Dow Jones shareholders about 1.25 billion and the company would get a cash infusion of a quarter billion from selling him new shares. Greenspan told the Los Angeles Times his plan involves a new TV channel on cable or satellite and that Internet video would also be crucial for the future growth of Dow Jones. The Internet entrepreneur said he was willing to talk about joining forces with LA billionaire Ron Burkle in bidding for Dow Jones, but didn't say whether there had yet been such talks.

SmartMedia observation: It's hard to imagine why Dow Jones shareholders would be interested in selling a piece of the company and betting their future on Greenspan's not-yet-fully-developed plan for new offerings in TV and Internet video. At least, not while there is a full buyout offer at 60 bucks a share on the table from Murdoch. Maybe Burkle, Greenspan and perhaps others can team up to match or exceed that, but so far all they have done is talk.