Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The meeting where the figures were thrown out that 52 percent of the Bancroft family opposed Rupert Murdoch's offer to buy Dow Jones & Company (DJ), shows the many problems that make up what is the Bancroft family shareholders in the company.

On May 1, certain Bancroft family members saying they represented 52 percent of the Dow Jones shareholder vote, let it be know that they opposed Murdoch's offer. That was out of the 64 percent percent of the vote owned by the family overall.

The problem is that there were some shareholder family members that weren't even at the family meeting or asked about their opinion on the matter. Some of the younger members have even said they have no idea on how the 52 percent figure was arrived at.

Others have said that in reality, included with the 52 percent figure were opinions that ranged from 'absolutely not,’ to ‘probably not.’ There was also no input into what the alleged 12 percent had to say.

Even in the recent family meeting on May 23, some of the older members of the family refused to attend, while there was a robust conversation with opposing views about what the family should do with the company. The point is that there hasn't been much in the way of communication concerning one of the more important media businesses in the world. The result has been the poor performance for years.

Part of the problem that it's a very private family which owns the majority of shares in a very public company. Those witin the family throughout the years that have publically aired their differences, have pretty quickly been silenced and not heard from again, as far as their thoughts those managing Dow Jones & Company goes.

Throughout the generations of the Bancroft family, they haven't attempted to run the company or put their personal impact upon the direction the journalism should take; including editorially, which differs alot from their personal views.

With the family not being of the confrontational type, not wanting publicity, passive in talking about money matters and not believing it should interfere with running the company, it has left a somewhat floundering situation that they are finally realizing they are confronted with.

“These are not people who raise their voices, and even when there’s been a lot of feelings about poor management, real debate is not their style,” said James H. Lowell II, a former investment adviser to the family. “Historically, they’ve been very passive.”

In the light of the condition of Dow Jones and its future prospects, it's somewhat odd that the family and a small amount of other shareholders want to retain control after selling it. How that would practically work out would be the Bancrofts would have the only power to appoint the leading editors at The Wall Street Journal, who would then would hire and make decisions about those under them. They would also like for board members to name their own replacements. Murdoch's role would be relegated to the business operations of the newspaper.

To me this shows tremendous naivete. That would mean that they would retain the same power as before, while walking away with billions of dollars. Something like controlling a company from the grave. It doesn't make any sense at all. I would be shocked if Murdoch, or anybody else would be willing to follow such outrageous demands.

Murdoch's concession in this area is to offer to put a board in place within News Corp. to oversee The Journal. Some of the family members have said it's not enough.

When I heard that Christopher Bancroft had agreed on the plan to talk to Murdoch and News Corp. (NWS-A), it even got stranger, as he said that he didn't realize that agreeing to a meeting and considering other options was tanamount to putting the company up for sale. As a result he, asked the family to retract the statement even before it had been released.

Of course it was already too late because the press had already found out about the proposed meeting and was already circulating.

The point in all of this is that the Bancroft family isn't able to do anything to increase the value of Dow Jones & Company, because they in reality have long ago abandoned any understanding of what it even is. They interpret it from a world that no longer exists, if at all.

It's long past time for them to sell it. It's unthinkable that they would now let it go on as it is with the new understanding that there really isn't much chance of the company growing in its current status.

If it was a simple as retaining what the Bancroft's are calling "editorial integrity," it would have continued growing. Dow Jones needs more than that to compete in the emerging media climate.

Essentially the Bancroft family wants to keep the company running like it has under their control, which basically means to do nothing to improve it and let it go its own way. No matter who ends up with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, that option is no longer available.

The Bancroft family simply needs to sell and get out of the way. There's nothing of value they're adding to the company, and those in control are living in a time that no longer exists. Dow Jones won't go forward and grow with the idea that "staying the same" being the rule.

The meeting with Murdoch is set for noon on Monday.