The Mogul's Next Move

The bid by media titan Rupert Murdoch to buy Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, is big news on numerous fronts. There's the money, of course. He is offering $5 billion for a company whose shares fetched just $3 billion before word of his bid leaked out on May 1. Also important is the signal that he's very serious about his Fox Business Channel, which is due to launch later this year and would get a big boost from the Journal--and Dow Jones--brand.