Murdoch promises independence at WSJ

Rupert Murdoch has upped the stakes in his bid to acquire Dow Jones and Company, promising an independent editorial board for the Wall Street Journal if his proposal succeeds.

Murdoch sent a conciliatory letter to the company’s controlling Bancroft family over the weekend in an effort to convince them to accept his $5 billion offer. The Bancroft family appears divided over the Murdoch tilt so his offer to give them a single board seat in the new entity should make for interesting dinner conversation.

Far from diverting his attentions towards old media assets, Murdoch’s MySpace has also come to a preliminary agreement to acquire photo sharing site Photobucket for US$250 million.