Dow Jones Buys MarketWatch

• Tweet
• Buffer

Dow Jones & Company agreed to buy business and financial publisher MarketWatch for $463 million, or $18 per share. The company has $59 million cash on hand, making the total value of the deal $519 million.

The sale follows a month-long bidding process between several big media companies, including The New York Times Company, Viacom and Yahoo, according to reports.

MarketWatch operates CBS.MarketWatch and BigCharts.com. The company's chairman and chief executive, Larry Kramer, expressed enthusiasm at the prospect of linking up with the legendary business publishing brand.

"Joining Dow Jones is a great next step for MarketWatch," he said. "Being part of one of the most respected media conglomerates in the world gives us a terrific platform to grow our business and compete with the largest media companies."

UBS Investment Bank is acting as financial advisor to MarketWatch on the transaction, expected to close in Q1 2005. Shares of MarketWatch were up 6.6 percent Monday morning.