Bloomberg is speculating that Google might buy Dow Jones.
They only way this makes any sense (see my rant on buying NBC for more) is for Google to take a public service stance and put the Wall St. Journal in a non profit trust. Now that would be ballsy. It’s been done before (The Guardian is in a trust). Dean Orville Schell has made this argument to me, and I agree with it.
That just seems a bit too ballsy for a publicly held American company. I just can’t see it happening. It sure would be nice, though. 🙂
For a moment I thought you we’re suggesting that Google was going to buy the Dow Jones. Now if Google owned a financial index that would be interesting. Think of the data…
I believe that if Google were to purchase this, it wouldn’t be for the data. The real value in purchasing Dow Jones is in the amount of valuable production of content that can then be sold through micropayments. Imagine if people visiting the Wall Street Journal were to pay per article, instead of a subscription model. Perhaps I’d pay $1 to read an article on Online Advertising. Perhaps 1 million people would.
17 times estimated earnings for Dow Jones is a conservative bid for the future, considering the development of the online media space.