Dow Jones Director Quits to Protest News Corp. Deal

NEW YORK, July 20: Dieter von Holtzbrinck is stepping down
from the Dow Jones & Company board, citing concerns with the impact a sale
to News Corporation would have on the company’s “journalistic values.”

According to reports, von Holtzbrinck abstained from the
vote on Tuesday that approved News Corporation’s $5-billion buyout offer. The
deal cannot proceed until it has been sanctioned by the Bancroft Family, who
also have concerns about The Wall Street Journal becoming a part of Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper empire.

Von Holtzbrinck sent a letter to the Dow Jones board
yesterday noting: “Although I’m convinced that the News Corp. offer is very
generous in financial terms, I’m very worried that Dow Jones unique
journalistic values will long-term strongly suffer after the proposed sale.”

Although News Corporation has negotiated an agreement with
the Bancrofts to set up a special committee to block the hiring or firing of
senior editors by the new owners, von Holtzbrinck remarked: “I do not believe that the ‘Special
Committee’ can finally prevent Murdoch from doing what he wants to do, from
acting his way.”

Von Holtzbrinck is a retired chairman of the supervisory
board of his family’s publishing company, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck.
He has served on the Dow Jones board since 2001.