M&A Maniacs

My first place of work is up for a Murdoch. Dow Jones & Co is where I was spoilt a generation ago by smart yellow legal pads, Bic biros, five-day weeks, first naming bosses, emphasis on impeccable sources, and a strict conflict of interest policy (that world rudely crashed when I moved to Sunday magazine--don't bother searching, it's now dead and buried).

The Murdoch buy-in (or buyout) will include The Wall Street Journal. I used to work at The Asian Wall Street Journal—now called Wall Street Journal Asia--the youngest of the Journals. It was precious. That will go to Murdoch as well. As will, perhaps, interest in Mint, a new and very fresh business tabloid launched recently by Hindustan Times and Dow Jones.

It may seem like a shame to sell to those who make news rather than those who report and analyse it, but that’s the way mergers and acquisitions work—the financials at Dow Jones are shakier than they were, and Rupert Murdoch is flush with cash and intent. But Murdoch will likely find he is dealing with a name that rings truer than his. Who knows, he may even adopt it for his own, benefit from some reverse osmosis.

In this crazy world of mergers & acquisitions, where a beginning is often the end, my god is the incomparable Steve Colbert.

See here his brilliant, hilarious take-off on the AT&T/ Cingular saga at Comedy Central.

Good weekend.