KEY POINTS:
BOSTON - Members of the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones & Co Inc, may decide by the end of the week whether to accept a US$5 billion ($6.3 billion) offer by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for the publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
Family members met in
Boston yesterday to hear presentations by their advisers on the deal, but have not decided if they will agree to the sale.
Winning over the family, which controls 64 per cent of Dow Jones' voting shares, is a major hurdle Murdoch must clear to buy Dow Jones, which has been under Bancroft control for more than a century.
Their decision is far from certain as an undetermined number of Bancrofts oppose the deal, fearing Murdoch would interfere with Dow Jones' news operations to further his business interests.
One prominent shareholder and board member, Christopher Bancroft, is seeking alternatives to Murdoch and could block the bid.
Bancroft said he expected the family to decide by Friday whether it would recommend selling the company.
The family's lead trustee, Hemenway & Barnes lawyer Michael Elefante, who is also a Dow Jones board member, called the meeting productive.
The Bancrofts, he said, "now have all the information they need to make a good decision on the News Corp offer".
The Bancrofts were expected to receive the offer and ask questions at the meeting. They could take time - perhaps days - to consider how they would vote their shares, according to a source familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named.
Elefante planned to canvass the Bancrofts after the meeting to determine how they would vote before offering the tally to the boards of directors of Dow Jones and News Corp.
The family's opposition has cast doubt on what many analysts thought would be a sure thing given Murdoch's offer of US$60 a share - a 65 per cent premium to where the stock had traded before the offer was disclosed in May.
Also in the mix is a competing proposal by internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan. On Friday, Greenspan offered to lend the Bancrofts US$400 million to US$600 million to buy out other members of the family who want to cash out at US$60 a share.
- REUTERS