First off, why would DJ reject the deal and what can happen next? The voting shares of the DJ stock are 62.5% owned by the Bancroft family, which has already indicated that it will be able to muster a little above 50% opposition against the bid. But that might not be enough to deter Rupert Murdoch, who seems determined to add Dow Jones, and especially its venerable flagship The Wall Street Journal, to his News Corp. media stable and so give it the credibility to launch a business-news channel that will rival CNBC and stand alongside the Fox News network. And if DJ does succeed in pushing off NWS, the fact is, forever after DJ is in play now. They just can't ignore a 50% premium on the stock price and hope that the acquirers out there will just go away. So, in other words, at any price less than $60, particularly since its only trading at 13 times trailing earnings at these levels, DJ is firmly on the list. And other top investors have been on board with this for awhile. In particular, in a recent video I did with Jim Cramer, he mentioned that the mutual fund run by super investor Michael Price is one of the funds and managers he most respects. Price is a shareholder of DJ as well as a shareholder of another Jim favorite, SHLD.

Another company that makes the list is RTRSY. This morning, in fact, they've received a takeover from an unknown source and their shares are 25% higher overseas. The board has confirmed that they received an offer but its not clear who although their is speculation around both Thomson and NWS. That said, even 25% higher, RTRSY could be an attractive opportunity in an environment which is desperate for cheap traditional, financial media. Reuters and Dow Jones have always paled in comparison to private company, Bloomberg, when it comes to delivering high quality data to the desktop for financial services although Reuters is leagues ahead of Dow Jones in this. Analysts expect the company to grow earnings from 1.97 per share in 2006, to $2.41 in 2007 to $3.40 in 2008, giving it a forward P/E ratio of just 17. Not cheap but not expensive either, particularly if a company like NWS would like to leverage Reuters reporters and data to fuel their new business channel. Deep value hedge fund Value Act Capital owns 5.2% of Reuters and their latest purchase was in February at current prices.

The owner of the Financial Time, I think this company is next in line after RTRSY. Trades for 12 times cash flows with a 3.2% dividend while you wait for it to get acquired. Disclosure: I write for the FT but I own none of its shares.

I also think SSP, Scripps, is going to get a strong look in this environment. Although not in the financial news space, they have been actively building their online division with the acquisitions of Shopzilla and uSwitch in recent years. In a portfolio I set up Secret Internet Companies I mention that between Shopzilla.com, uSwitch.com, and Bizrate.com, SSP has 34 million unique internet users a month. Shopzilla has quickly become the largest comparison shopping site since SSP bought it for $525mm in 2005. Interactive revenues have grown from $99 million in 2005 to $271 million in 2006 going from less than 5% of overall revenues to over 10% of overall revenues. With ad sales down in the core newspaper business, the interactive division is the main growth engine at SSP.

The Sulzberger family is probably looking for a white knight. The company has been hit hard by declining advertising and even the About.com section has slowing growth but ultimately its still 22% year over year growth as opposed to the 30% people expected.

Owner of Mcgraw-Hill books, Businessweek, and Standard and Poors, this company will be a perfect fit for a NWS or even a GE. Also trades at 12x cash flows and earnings growth this past year was 93%.

Part of what makes DJ (and now Reuters) attractive to a buy is the sheer amount of financial data they collect and aggregate. A buyer of ITG or FDS can get that data as well. ITG has a forward P/E of just 13 and a great balance sheet with $180mm net cash in the bank.

Part of what makes DJ (and now Reuters) attractive to a buy is the sheer amount of financial data they collect and aggregate. A buyer of ITG or FDS can get that data as well.