Content Matters

Just a few days after Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones comes word that Reuters has been approached by a third party, offering to acquire the Company. 

Numis Securities proposes that the suitor could be Thomson, whose bank accounts will soon be filled from the $5 billion divestiture of their Education Division. 

UPDATE: The Globe and Mail says that the suitor is Thomson.  That would be a big acquisition and somewhat out of character for Thomson.  While they've done billion-dollar deals in the past (acquisitions of Primark, Harcourt General and West), this would dwarf those deals.

At the same time, the Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo rumors are kicking up again.  Despite the continuing slump in the newspaper sector, it looks like a good time to be invested in the content space.

CNBC is reporting that Rupert Murdoch has offered $60 per share to buy Dow Jones & Company.
The unsolicited bid has sent shares of DJ soaring 50% to more than $56 per share.

A bid for Dow Jones makes sense, as its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal, would be an amazing property for Murdoch to build his desired financial news network around.  Dow Jones is closely held, with the Bancroft Family owning the voting class of shares, so no deal is necessarily imminent.  Of course, a 50% premium will not be easy to ignore.

As PaidContent points out, this could easily trigger a bidding war for the Company.

The coming days and weeks should be interesting...