Dow Jones director resigns

NEW YORK: German publishing executive Dieter von Holtzbrinck has resigned as a director of Dow Jones & Co to protest the board's endorsement of a deal to sell the company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

In a letter to Dow Jones' other board members, von Holtzbrinck said he was "very worried" that the company's "unique journalistic values will long-term strongly suffer after the proposed sale." Dow Jones disclosed von Holtzbrinck's departure and included a copy of his letter in a regulatory filing yesterday.

Dow Jones' board endorsed the USD5 billion buyout offer from News Corp late Tuesday, and the proposal has now gone to the company's controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, for a decision. They are expected to meet Monday and take several days to consider the offer.

Von Holtzbrinck was reported to have abstained from the board's vote Tuesday, as did Leslie Hill, a Bancroft family member who also serves as a director. Christopher Bancroft, another family member and director, was reported to have left the meeting early.

Murdoch's bid to acquire Dow Jones has met with stiff resistance in several quarters, including a union representing Journal reporters, several members of the Bancroft family, and former board member Jim Ottaway Jr, who together with his brother David control 7 per cent of the company's shareholder vote.

The union and Ottaway have said they fear that Murdoch will bend the Journal's news coverage to suit his corporate interests. In hopes of preventing such an outcome, the Bancroft family insisted upon, and received, a commitment from News Corp. to establish a committee whose approval would be needed to hire or fire top editors at the newspaper.