The maneuverings to take over Dow Jones are taking daily twists and turns, but one thing remains clear: the price Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is offering is hard to beat.

Neither Pearson or General Electric elaborated in their statements today the reasons they decided against pursuing Dow Jones, but maybe the 65 percent premium has something to do with it.

Research from Numis Corp earlier this week became the latest in a slew of analysts and experts to tell it like it is: Murdoch’s $5 billion, $60 per share offer makes it hard for most other would-be challengers to make an attractive financial return.

Meanwhile, it must be tempting for other newspaper publishers to hope for such rich valuations if they ever received an offer. But analysts think Dow Jones is a one-off, with the prestigious Wall Street Journal a prime asset where valuation and price disconnect.

“It’s like buying a Picasso,” Murray Schwartz, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP told us.  “I don’t think it will have any bearing on any other newspaper deal in the world.”