Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the owner of Bloomberg LP, is interested in acquiring either the Wall Street Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones, or the Washington Post, Axios reported Friday, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter .
Such a merger would create a financial data and news giant, further cementing the world’s 12th richest man’s stronghold in the business and likely allowing his company to sell more Bloomberg terminals — its main source of revenue.
According to the Axios report, Bloomberg sees Dow Jones-owned News Corp (NWSA.O), also publisher of Barron’s and MarketWatch, as an ideal fit, but would buy the Post if the founder of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) , Jeff Bezos was interested in selling.
Bloomberg LP, the Washington Post and Dow Jones did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
News Corp’s shares rose 3% in a generally weaker market.
In October, Rupert Murdoch launched a lawsuit that could reunite his media empire News Corp and Fox Corp (FOXA.O) nearly a decade after the companies split.
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However, the proposal has met strong opposition from several shareholders, who say a merger alone would not realize News Corp’s full value and have instead proposed a spin-off of the media company’s digital real estate business or Dow Jones as an alternative to the merger.
Craig Huber, a media analyst at Huber Research Partners, said he would be “shocked” if Murdoch sold the Wall Street Journal and likely told his family not to sell it either.
“The WSJ is a trophy estate of the Murdoch family,” he said, adding that the speculation may be a result of his plan to reunite his media empire.
Portal competes as a financial news provider with Bloomberg News, a unit of Bloomberg LP.