Dow Jones board member opposes sale to News Corp

According to report in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, a member of the board of Dow Jones, who is also part of the family that controls the publishing group, has launched a last-ditch effort to block the $5-billion takeover by News Corp.

Christopher Bancroft, one of three family members on the Dow Jones board, recently approached hedge funds, private equity firms and General Electric Co, in a bid to get enough voting shares of Dow Jones to give him the power to block a sale, the paper reported on its Web site, citing people familiar with the matter.

Bancroft, his two siblings, his niece and their children are beneficiaries of trusts that control about one-third of the Bancrofts'' stake in Dow Jones. The Bancroft family controls 64 per cent of the voting shares in Dow Jones has the option to choose an outright sale to News Corp.

Rupert Murdoch''s News Corp, which owns Fox News, the New York Post and a sprawling media empire, has offered $60-a-share offer, a 65 per cent premium to the company''s share price before Dow Jones made the bid public, prices Dow Jones'' equity at $5 billion, and including net debt would value the company at $5.5 billion.

Bancroft is trying to get more "supervoting" shares from other Bancroft heirs who may be ready to sell their stakes but share his dislike for handing the family legacy to Murdoch, the The Wall Street Journal said.

Bancroft''s cousin Leslie Hill, another Dow Jones director, has also been exploring options for an alternative to Murdoch''s offer, but the two relatives are not working together, the The Wall Street Journal said.