By Senad Karaahmetovic
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is reportedly interested in acquiring either Dow Jones or Washington Post, according to a report in Axios.
Bloomberg is reportedly looking to expand his financial media empire by either acquiring Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, or the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos.
Dow Jones is seen as a stronger target of these two. Bloomberg, which owns an 88% stake in his business, is reportedly close to Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Dow Jones parent company News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA). The former mayor of New York City believes efforts to merge News Corp and its sister company Fox Corporation will fail, leaving him with an opportunity to make a bid for Dow Jones.
No official talks have taken place at this stage between Bloomberg and Murdoch, the report adds.
On the other hand, Bloomberg would also be interested in acquiring the Washington Post if Bezos decides to sell. He sees the combination of Bloomberg and WaPo as a strong competitor to the New York Times (NYT).
However, a Post spokesperson told Axios, "The Post is not for sale."
Bloomberg would plan to integrate any title he acquired with Bloomberg Media.