Did Page Six Scandal Spike Rupe's WSJ Bid?

DEEP-SIXED Murdoch

Greedy gossipista Jared Paul Stern isn't going to get his job at the New York Post back anytime soon, but he can take some comfort in knowing that his broadside against the newspaper may have sunk its owner's grandest plans.

Bloomberg is reporting that News Corp., which owns the Post, will, in the view of analysts, most likely abandon its efforts to acquire the Wall Street Journal. Though the Bloomberg story doesn't mention Stern, the timing—just three days after the Post was forced to preempt a string of embarrassing revelations by printing them in its own marquee gossip column—is suggestive.

In fact, yesterday, the New York Times's David Carr speculated that Stern's attack could hurt Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion bid for the Journal. "If you were a member of the Bancroft family in the midst of deciding whether to sell Dow Jones & Company to Rupert Murdoch, reading Friday's New York Post might have made you choke on your bagel," Carr opined.

Considering that prior to last week, most Dow Jones employees thought it merely a matter of time before the Bancrofts succumbed to Murdoch's woo, Carr's analysis appears to be on the money.

Photo: Getty Images