- $10 million to do what?
That's what members of the Bancroft family would like to know. You remember the Bancrofts - former owners of DJ and the WSJ who sold their company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. As part of the deal, News Corp. gave the family $30 million to cover its various fees, but the final bill wound up being $3 million higher. At issue in particular is a $10 million bill from Martin Lipton at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a firm that doesn't break out hourly charges because, well, they just don't do it that way. Wachtell, Lipton just submits an invoice for “services rendered” (wouldn't you love to get away with that!). Here's more from Deal Journal:
Some family members argue that Wachtell doesn’t deserve the $10 million. As they see it, Lipton and his firm acted as little more than emissaries between the family and News Corp. These family members zero in on the fact that News corp.’s unsolicited $60-a-share, submitted in April, didn’t improve by the time the deal was sealed on Aug. 1. Some family members were so dissatisfied with Wachtell’s counsel that they hired their own personal lawyers.
Oh, the Bancrofts are also balking at paying $18.5 million to Merrill Lynch, which was brought on to push for a higher price that never happened.
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| 03:30 PM Dec 17, 2007 | Email the Daily Dragon | Email this Article | Post Comments |
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