Rupert Murdoch is a buyer again. News Corp, his newspaper
empire, acquired Investor’s Business Daily, a financial tip sheet popular with
Wall Street traders and investors, for $275 million.
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The deal signals a return to acquisitions after Murdoch spent
the past few years slimming down and selling off parts of his businesses.
Little-known among everyday readers, Investor’s Business Daily
has been a stalwart source of news for hardcore investors for decades.
Stockbroker William J. O’Neil started the publication in 1984, and it was
originally meant to compete with The Wall Street Journal (now a part of Murdoch’s
empire). But it has remained an insider’s guide with limited appeal beyond the
trading floor.
Investor’s Business Daily has turned into a largely digital
publication. It has a website and several mobile apps in addition to its weekly
print edition. It has a mix of free content along with data tools that cost
hundreds of dollars a year as part of a subscription. The company has “nearly
100,000” online subscribers and is a growing and profitable business, according
to News Corp.
The deal could help broaden Murdoch’s newspaper empire, which
has been shrinking over the past few years as the news industry grapples with
fading revenues as Google and Facebook siphon away the majority of online ad
dollars.
“I have no doubt that IBD’s savvy digital products and
journalism will significantly bolster profitability,” Robert Thomson, chief
executive of News Corp, said in a statement announcing the deal.
The company has seen some bright spots. Dow Jones, the division
that will manage the new acquisition and already includes the Journal, remains
a robustly profitable business. Separately, Murdoch’s New York Post recently
hit a rare milestone, becoming a profitable paper for the first time in recent
memory.
News Corp has still had to make steep cuts across its newspaper
empire, especially in Australia, Murdoch’s original home base. Staff at his
Australian papers have been gutted, and most of the operations have been turned
into digital-only publications.
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