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Step Right Up: News Corps Bid for Wall Street Journal

Posted on May 01 , 2007 in PR & Spin This! & Strategy & Thoughts

Could Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones be just a huge publicity stunt to bolster News Corp.'s upcoming business channel? MarketWatch's Jon Friedman seems to think so.

"Whatever the outcome in his Dow Jones takeover bid, Murdoch has seized the upper hand in publicity. He has everyone talking about News Corp. and Fox, which can only enhance the prospects for his financial-news network."

I've been reading Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work--And Why Your Company Needs Them and Friedman might be onto something. While Murdoch's not jumping out of a airplane, he certainly is showing he understands the value of a cache overlooked property and willing to pay handsomely to tie it into his newest media channel.

He's using his money and influence to further stand out from the crowd. If you can make a good business deal, and generate some publicity at the same time, then you can jumpstart a new venture and perhaps save money and time in the process.

The buzz alone may be enough to show News Corp. is serious about taking on CNBC and building a strong business channel. And for that Murdoch may walk away a big winner, even when Dow Jones refuses to sell.

  • http://mediamindshare.wordpress.com Michael Tangeman @ Media Mindshare

    Very astute point, Michael. Who besides industry watchers had been paying that much attention to Murdoch’s new channel, previously?

    By making this bid — whether serious or not — he suddenly catapults his new venture into mainstream consciousness (I heard about it over the radio while driving to the office this morning).

    Of course, of all the things one might say about Murdoch, it has to be acknowledged that he is a very shrewd businessperson. For better or for worse (in this case, certainly the latter in terms of the increasingly troubling consolidation of media in our world), he and/or his advisors nevertheless clearly understand what it takes to cut through all the daily chatter and grab media attention, big time!