Posts

In and Out

Effective with the start of trading on February 19, the Dow Jones Industrial Average will add Bank of America Corp. and Chevron Corp. and drop Altria Group Inc. and Honeywell International Inc.  Reuters said that this is the first change in the 111-year old Index since April 2004.
 
The composition of the index is determined by editors of the Wall Street Journal and while there are no set criteria for a stock to be added or deleted, the editors of the Journal intend that all of the components of the index be highly established U.S. companies that are leaders in their respective industries.

 

Laurie Berman, Senior Vice President, lberman@pondel.com
 
 

It’s a Go for Murdoch

It’s official.  Shareholders of Dow Jones & Co. approved the sale of the publishing company to News Corp., a deal that was bemoaned by media but lauded by shareholders. The question is whether News Corp. is able to run the Journal without compromising the quality of its content.  Of course, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has pledged to keep the Journal’s reputation fully intact as a go-to source for business news.  But how could he say otherwise?  Only time will tell whether another monolith of a media conglomerate will force the ink to fade and yellow.

 

Evan Pondel, Senior Associate, epondel@pondel.com