Dow Jones has a section in its latest proxy filing giving the
history of its takeover by Rupert Murdoch. But it might be 1957, not 2007,
for all that the key individuals seem incapable of so much as placing a phone
call to each other if they’re not in the same country.
On March 29, 2007, Messrs. Murdoch and Zannino met for breakfast. At the
end of the meeting, Mr. Murdoch reiterated his long-standing interest in acquiring
Dow Jones… Mr. Murdoch indicated that News Corporation was planning to make
its proposal directly to the Dow Jones board of directors and that Mr. Murdoch
intended to contact Harvey Golub, an outside director of Dow Jones, to discuss
how to do so. Later on March 29, 2007, Mr. Murdoch left a message for Mr.
Golub at his office…
Messrs. Zannino and Stern also attempted to contact Mr. Golub by telephone
and e-mail, but he was out of the country at the time…
Mr. Golub returned Mr. Murdoch’s call on April 4, 2007 and was informed
that Mr. Murdoch was out of the country. On April 11, 2007, Mr. Golub and
Mr. Murdoch spoke directly by telephone.
The final merger-agreement press release came out on August 1.