The Bancroft family, which has controlled the prestigious Wall Street Journal for more than a century, is the latest newspaper dynasty to be dismantled by the pressures of the Internet age.

Its agreement Tuesday to sell Dow Jones & Co., the Journal’s parent, for $5 billion to media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. shows how the industry’s most powerful families have faced a tough choice: Cash out or watch their fortunes deteriorate as more readers and advertisers migrate to online news sources such as Yahoo and Google.

Before the recent sell-offs, family-owned newspaper chains were considered the bulwark against corporate ownership, which had already accounted for control of other media businesses, such as television and movie studios.

For some families, the news-gathering business was not just about the bottom line. It was about performing a civic duty.

But that belief eroded as the dynasties, founded in the 1800s, entered their third, fourth and fifth generations, expanding to dozens of family members who collect dividends but have little commitment to journalism.

“Journalism is being redefined whether we like it or not,” Robert Decherd, who with his sister controls Belo Corp., owner of the Dallas Morning News, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Providence Journal. “The resistance in the news industry to consolidation has declined—and that’s before you introduce the phenomenon of fourth- and fifth-generation ownership.”

The Journal’s fate was determined by three dozen Bancrofts, who held their stock in a maze of complicated trusts. No family member has had a career in management there since William Cox Jr. retired more than a decade ago.

The sale follows the recent exit from the business of several other newspaper clans. In February the Chandler family, which formerly owned the Los Angeles Times, cut its 116-year industry ties by selling its stake in the parent company as part of a pending takeover by real-estate mogul Sam Zell. Last year Tony Ridder, scion of the family that once shared control of Knight Ridder Inc. with the Knight family, threw in the towel on the industry and sold out to McClatchy Co. after the family had spent 114 years in the business.

Newspaper analyst John Morton, who has consulted for some of the biggest privately owned chains, likened the dismantling of newspaper dynasties to the disappearance of small family farms.

“It’s like the farmer who leaves the farm to the family and divides it evenly,” Morton said. “A couple of generations go by and all of a sudden you’re sitting on an acre.” A one-acre farmer is a farmer looking to sell, and the same is true for newspaper families. Only one in 10 survives the third generation, according to the Family Business Center at Chicago accounting firm Blackman Kallick.

What’s different now is that some of the best-known newspaper companies are passing that milestone. New York Times Co., controlled by the Sulzberger family, passed the title of chairman to a fourth-generation publisher in 1997, and the third-generation chief executive of Washington Post Co., Donald E. Graham, turned 62 this year. (Los Angeles Times)

Murdoch Wins

In locking up Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion late Tuesday, Rupert Murdoch ensured that his vast influence would be felt in the business world for years to come—as it is now by hundreds of millions of global TV viewers, moviegoers and Internet users.

‘WSJ’ reaction: ‘Sickening’

It’s normally not good news when a company is the subject of repeated stories on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Money, or duty to society?

The Bancroft family, which has controlled the prestigious Wall Street Journal for more than a century, is the latest newspaper dynasty to be dismantled by the pressures of the Internet age.

Global tire brand sets example of market knowledge, community integration

IT boils down to having a good name—Goodyear Philippines Inc. has close to a hundred years’ experience in support of this statement.

Vex Populi

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Going beyond business

TO gain trust of people, practice what you preach.

This is what Manila Water Co. Inc. president Antonino T. Aquino has been doing in the past 10 years, since taking the helm of leadership of the Ayala-owned water firm servicing the east zone of urban Metro Manila.

Manila Water and communities: Some recent projects

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Regarding Mark Jimenez

The view from Mark Jimenez’s penthouse is one of a kind: neat rows of the white crosses in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Bonifacio Global City. Inside, crystal vases with fresh flowers are everywhere. There is an old Austrian piano that nobody knows how to play in the living room. There are photos of his family.

Five books that will amplify your ability to lead through influence

Leaders shape the future; they set strategic goals and guide their organizations toward attaining them. But they are powerless without others’ cooperation. Here are five books that will hone your ability to lead through influence.

The Cost of Myopic Management

Under pressure to hit immediate performance targets, many managers inflate earnings, often by cutting expenditures. In a recent survey of 401 top financial executives, 80 percent said they would decrease spending on “discretionary” activities like marketing and research and development to meet short-term goals.

Tattoo you

Last year Justin Miloro had to wear long sleeves to conceal the Buddha curling around his left forearm and the yellow-orange sun rays on his right. Pants covered the depiction of Earth on one leg and wings on the other.

From WOM to www

FOR years, small businesses have relied on the magic of WOM (word of mouth) to attract customers. Yet, with young Filipinos lately turning into entrepreneurs, too many small companies are creating too much buzz that customers now find it hard to tell apart the best from the bluff.

Winning: AVOIDING THE REVERSE-HOSTAGE SYNDROME

Q: Why do so many companies not address cross-cultural differences in a merger until it’s too late? Karen Fenner, Camden, New Jersey

A: Because you can’t number-crunch culture. And financial analysis is almost always where merger evaluations begin, along with some level of strategic analysis.

The monarchical tradition

Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of personally delivering the president’s report to Congress that was inaugurated by George Washington, the first president, on January 8, 1790, in New York, the capital of the new nation until 1801. But since the US Constitution required a president to report to Congress, Jefferson wrote his message and had it read by a clerk.

The future of San Miguel

‘We’ve done preliminary studies, going so far as to hire an independent adviser to shortlist for us attractive industries in which we might choose to participate, industries like mining, power, infrastructure, water, other utilities and property.’

Seeing the World

We can state, quite categorically, that we are living in very demanding times. Our planet is under stress. Our country confronts serious challenges. Our communities are in search of real solutions to age-old problems.

The hidden good news about CEO dismissals

Worldwide, boards of large corporations are dismissing four times more CEOs today than in 1995, a trend that raises an important question: Are boards undermining the chief executive’s ability to lead for the long term?

Overcoming resistance to change

There are a few in every bunch: the naysayers, the predictors of disaster, the ones who dig in their heels and fight you at every turn. What would a change initiative be without them?

From Small to Big Screen

Jim Libiran is not your regular commercial filmmaker and screenwriter who has a standard formula for a box-office hit and makes use of predictable plots and cliché lines.

‘Just do it’

IMAGINE a situation where killings and disappearances are taking place. The victims form a distinct and disliked, though by no means unpopular political grouping. In fact, they have the most populist agenda of any other.

Leadership that focuses on the customer–really

Many executives and managers exhort their followers to make the customer the center of everything they do. Yet for all the passion and conviction of their words, genuine customer focus remains theory rather than practice in their organizations.

Forward-Thinking Cultures

It’s hard to manage any organization so that its long-term interests aren’t sacrificed to short-term expedience. But there is an added wrinkle for organizations whose operations are globally dispersed: cultural orientation toward the future varies widely the world over.

Book Keeper

The life of National Book Store founder Socorro C. Ramos should serve as an inspiration to the younger generation on how to hurdle the numerous challenges thrown our way. Her success, not just in business but in all aspects of life, stresses the importance of focus, dedication, hard work, education and other important values.