German director quits in protest over Dow Jones sale

German publishing executive Dieter von Holtzbrinck has resigned as a director of Dow Jones and Co. in protest over the board giving the green signal for selling the company, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, to media baron Rupert Murdochs News Corp.

New York, July 20 : German publishing executive Dieter von Holtzbrinck has resigned as a director of Dow Jones and Co. in protest over the board giving the green signal for selling the company, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, to media baron Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, von Holtzbrinck said in a letter to the board that he was "very worried" that the company's "unique journalistic values" will suffer in the long term because of the proposed sale.

Dow Jones disclosed von Holtzbrinck's departure and included a copy of his letter in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

The Dow Jones' board endorsed the five billion dollar 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 on Monday and take several days to consider the offer.

There is a possibility of the Bancroft family, which owns a 64 percent controlling stake in Dow Jones, nixing the bid over fears of Murdoch attempting to change the character of the group, and particularly that of the Wall Street Journal. According to Variety.com, the Bancrofts were to meet Thursday to determine whether they will agree with the board's recommendation and vote in favor of a sale.

While a number of members of the board, including Chris Bancroft and Leslie Hill, are Bancroft family members who are considered to be reluctant about a sale, their protests are not expected to sway the board's decision. But they could be enough to convince the Bancrofts to balk on approving the sale.

Insiders said the outcome of the Bancrofts' decision was still too close to call.

If a sale does not go through, it will likely send Dow Jones price stock plummeting, as investors turn up the heat on Dow Jones over how it expects to improve on its relatively paltry 38 million dollars in operating income last year.

No new bidders have emerged for the company, though several analysts were suggesting that News Corp. itself had a backup plan if the Bancrofts rejected their overtures: a purchase of the Financial Times from Pearson.

A News Corp. spokesman has so far declined to comment.

ANI