Neil Cavuto interviewed his bossman (and now Dow Jones bossman) Rupert Murdoch this afternoon to discuss today's official takeover of Dow Jones. The interview was almost 30 commercial-free minutes long, and they touched on everything from Murdoch's plans for the Wall Street Journal to his views on the New York Times' competition to his perspectives on the economy and the recession he believes is coming (read choice quotes here).
But the highlight of the interview came near the end, when Cavuto asked Murdoch about the synergy between his newest acquisition, the Wall Street Journal, and his latest TV project, Fox Business Network. With the drool nearly pouring out of his mouth, a fawning Cavuto branded himself "part of the players trying to make your Fox Business Network succeed" and then proceeded to pretend he wasn't sure about CNBC's name:
CAVUTO: How important will the Wall Street Journal, will Dow Jones collectively be to building up FBN?
MURDOCH: Oh I think they'll build each other up, they'll help each other. At the moment, there's a standing agreement with our competition. But that will run down, or run out, and we'll be able to put the two together more and more.
CAVUTO: Alright, the standing agreement you're talking about is where Wall Street Journal reporters have a contractual agreement with C-, CNBC — I think that's the name of the network?
MURDOCH: Yes, but it doesn't stop a lot of the reporters from coming on onto Fox, and they have.
Not sure if Cavuto was lobbying for a bigger Christmas bonus (you know Fox loves Christmas), but bossman didn't seem all that amused. Watch:
From Fox News Channel, 12/13