"If I were Dow Jones, I'd take the deal in a New York minute," Pitt Business Professor Says of Murdoch's $5 Billion Offer

PITTSBURGH-Pitt Professor Marick Masters says Rupert Murdoch's negotiation technique in his bid to purchase Dow Jones & Co. is interesting. The News Corporation's $5 billion bid to purchase the company that owns the Wall Street Journal comes at a time when ad sales are rapidly declining. "If I were Dow Jones, I'd take the deal in a New York minute," says Masters, professor of business administration and director of the Center on Conflict Resolution and Negotiation in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

Masters is available to comment on what the deal could mean for the integrity of the "Wall Street Journal" as well as Murdoch's approach to negotiation in this deal.

Masters has published extensively on a wide variety of business and organizational topics in numerous disciplines. He serves on the editorial board of the "Journal of Labor Research," edits the annual volume "International Perspectives on Employment Dispute Resolution," and was formerly the editor of the "Association for Conflict Resolution Workplace Section News." Masters is also the author of a monthly column in the "Pittsburgh Business Times."

For a list of Pitt faculty experts, visit http://www.umc.pitt.edu/m/experts.html

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7/18/07/tmw