Smart money asks out of Dow Jones

Big money manager T Rowe Price thinks that the controlling shareholders of Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE:DJ) should take the money that News Corp (NYSE:NWS) has offered and call it a day.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Brian Rogers, the chairman and chief investment officer, said that the odds that Dow Jones management could get the stock price to $60 on their own was unlikely. T Rowe is the largest shareholder in DJ outside the founding family.

Large shareholders in the financial information company have been notably quiet about the offer. But, with a large shareholding speaking up, that could change. Earlier this year, a group of institutions, lead by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) withheld proxies at New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT) annual meeting, protesting that the controlling family was not doing anything to improve the share price.

T Rowe, by speaking with the Financial Times, gave its story to a direct competitor to the Dow Jones flagship Wall Street Journal. Whether there is any special message in that may never be known.

What is known is that Dow Jones has one, very large, unhappy shareholder.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.