Since Dow Jones sent Murdoch an editorial independence proposal Friday, much has happened, as News Corp. officials reacted coolly to the document. An NYT story two days ago said that Murdoch found the proposal as a setback to the talks. Not sure what changed between then and now, but it seem the two sides are close to agreeing on terms designed to protect WSJ’s newsroom independence if the company accepts a takeover bid from Murdoch, reports NYT in a story today. This doesn’t mean that a Dow Jones buyout deal will go through...it just means they have crossed a big hurdle towards it.
Updated: WSJ reports on what happened over the weekend: the talks almost broke down this weekend over the editorial independence proposal. After Friday’s proposal, News Corp. sent back a significantly altered draft Sunday morning, and its proposal cut out portions of the board’s initial proposal and reduced the Bancroft family’s involvement in the structure designed to safeguard the editorial independence of Dow Jones.