Reuters dominates coverage of General Growth-Simon-Brookfield saga

Reuters dominated the coverage for the battle for U.S. mall operator General Growth’s future, with a series of exclusive reports throughout the past two weeks. We reported exclusively on May 7 that the board was expected to ask a bankruptcy court to approve a bid by Brookfield Asset Management, in a snub to rival suitor Simon Property. Reuters headlines went out just before 7 am in the morning, even before the board had met to vote on the plan. We also reported that Bill Ackman`s Pershing Square, which is part of the Brookfield-led bid, had agreed to forgo his interim warrants, reducing the package by 14 percent. The Wall Street Journal had a story only an hour later, while Bloomberg was unseen. And Reuters was quick to report that it was likely to walk away if the Brookfield bid was approved. General Growth’s stock fell 2.5 percent after that Reuters headline.