In News Corp.'s (NWS-A) annual report, Rupert Murdoch revealed some of his thinking behind why he was willing to pay $5 billion for Dow Jones & Co. (DJ).
It's not surprising that his key purpose was the converging of media platforms which enables the company to integrate content across the variety of platforms. If nothing else, Dow Jones & Co. is a content machine.
Murdoch said in the report: "There has been an understandable focus on The Wall Street Journal, the world's pre-eminent business newspaper.
"But Dow Jones has a plethora of prestigious brands and a range of content that will provide us with a remarkable opportunity to take advantage of the two most profound social and economic trends of our age, globalization and digitization."
He added that he considered it one of the most significant strategic acquisitions over the last 20 years.
Murdoch also commented in the report on how the company is transforming from a traditional media company into a digital force.
Most of the digital challenge for Murdoch and News Corp. will be turning MySpace into a much more profitable property. He feels with smaller purchases like Photobucket, among others, has prepared the company to improve their digital product and will result in tremendous revenue and profit increases. This year MySpace turned a profit for the first time.
The other strength of the company has is the variety of mediums where they'll be able to drive traffic across platforms, increasing it for all its properties.
With the new business channel about to launch in October, and the pieces being put into place by Murdoch, this should be an exciting company to watch over the next several years.
Now if Murdoch can quench his thirst for endless acquisitions, he may be able to settle some and build out the properties he has, something he may never be quite ready to do.
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