NEW YORK -- With Rupert Murdoch sealing a tentative agreement to acquire The Wall Street Journal, the question now turns to the biggest obstacle remaining for a deal: winning over the mercurial Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones & Co.'s shareholder vote.
The family initially rebuffed Murdoch's offer in early May but later agreed to consider it. They insisted on, and received, a commitment to create an oversight board that must approve the hiring or firing of top editors at the newspaper.
Negotiators from Dow Jones and
Dow Jones' s board voted last night to recommend approving the proposal. The deal is expected to be presented tomorrow to Bancroft family members, who would take several days to consider it, the paper reported.
A representative for the Bancroft family declined to comment.
The Bancrofts have been divided about the fate of the company from the early stages of Murdoch's overture, which began in late March. Even after reaching a pact on editorial independence, there were other signs that the family remained split.
Two Bancroft family members who are also Dow Jones directors have been seeking to thwart Murdoch's efforts, the Journal reported, but neither appeared close to succeeding.
Christopher Bancroft has reached out to investors to buy enough shares of Dow Jones to block a sale, and Leslie Hill has been trying to find other buyers, according to the Journal.
Bancroft didn't return a call for comment, and no phone number was listed for Hill.
Together the family controls 64 percent of the shareholder vote, but with some three dozen family members spread across the country and a number of different trusts involved, it remained difficult to say how family dynamics would play out.
Murdoch has said concerns he would meddle with the Journal's coverage are unwarranted. He has been mainly silent about how the process is going.