US conglomerate General Electric said today that it would not be teaming up with Britain's Pearson in a possible takeover bid for media group Dow Jones, owner of The Wall Street Journal.
The announcement came as Dow Jones is trying to fend off a hostile $5 billion takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
GE and CNBC, the business television network of its NBC Universal subsidiary, recently held 'exploratory' discussions with Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times newspaper, to study a possible combination with Dow Jones, GE said in a statement.
'Following these discussions, GE and Pearson have decided not to pursue this combination,' it said.
Meanwhile, last night the founder of the MySpace social network website, Brad Greenspan, announced a bid for a 25% stake in Dow Jones.
The internet entrepreneur's announcement was the first public offer for Dow Jones shares since Murdoch's bid.
Greenspan, who began MySpace when he was a student and opposed Murdoch's takeover of that company in 2005, said he was 'leading an investment group seeking to take a non-controlling stake in Dow Jones Corp'.
He said the group, named Journal Investment Group, delivered a letter to the Dow Jones board on Tuesday matching the $60 price offered by Murdoch.
