Perspective on The Past Week's Stories

The big story (of course) is Rupert Murdoch's surprise bid for Dow Jones & Co., the parent of the Wall Street Journal.  First, there is the tremendous interest generated by the names and personalities -- the media mogul Murdoch, the prestigious WSJ, and the Bancroft family (who have generally been described as "secretive," but that seems to mean "low profile") who, as a group, control Dow Jones through its ownership of the supervoting class of stock.  Second, there are the knotty legal issues that have already  arisen -- like the Revlon duty, with others almost certainly to follow.  And, of course, there are allegations of insider trading.

Insider trading is the second-biggest story this week, as both the DOJ and the SEC brought charges against a Credit Suisse junior investment banker for trading in options of TXU before the public announcement of its LBO (and allegations of other insider trading as well) through a confederate in Pakistan.