Sunday, Wall Street Journal reported that Christopher Bancroft, a key member of the Bancroft family that controls Dow Jones & Co. Inc. (DJ), launched an attempt to acquire enough voting shares to block the sale of Dow Jones to News Corp (NWS). However, the effort might not reportedly materialize, as the two companies are winding up due diligence and talks on prices could start soon.The offer of $5 billion for New York-based Dow Jones has so far scared away other bidders, and the chairman of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, has shown little interest in sweetening the offer as of yet. A deal would require the approval of the Bancroft family, which controls 64% of the company's votes and which has been divided about a deal.The Wall Street Journal said that Christopher Bancroft, 55, approached hedge funds, private-equity firms and others in an effort to buy enough voting shares of Dow Jones to enable him to stall the sale. Christopher Bancroft and his two siblings, his niece Elisabeth Goth Chelberg and their children are beneficiaries of trusts that control a third of the Bancroft family's stake in Dow Jones. Christopher Bancroft reportedly intended to acquire more supervoting shares from other Bancroft family members who might be willing to sell their stakes. The supervoting rights give Bancroft family members ten votes for every one shares, compared with one vote for common shareholders. Christopher Bancroft requires to obtain 51% of the total votes of the company to vote against the deal with News Corp. However, in that event, holders of common shares would not probably get bought out. Christopher Bancroft and one of his three family members on the Dow Jones board were reportedly working with advisers, including the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP to form a deal. Christopher Bancroft's cousin and another director of Dow Jones, Leslie Hill, was reportedly exploring options for an alternative to Murdoch. Though she initially differed with Christopher Bancroft's opposition to the deal with News Corp., she is now of the opinion that accepting News Corp's offer should be a last resort. Last week, Dow Jones was reportedly making a last push to find other possible buyers for itself. Quoting people familiar with the matter, a report in the Wall Street Journal said that the efforts were designed, in part, to soothe members of the Bancroft family, such as Leslie Hill. Referring people who had spoken with her, the report said, Leslie Hill has expressed frustration at the company's inability to come with alternatives to News Corp.Leslie Hill arranged for Dow Jones to meet with other potentially interested parties, such as MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan, who is leading an investor group that has proposed to purchase a part of Dow Jones at $60 a share and invest an additional $250 million. News Corp. and Dow Jones have been engaged in due diligence since the past one week, when they agreed in principle on a structure to protect Dow Jones's editorial independence. Wall Street Journal said that due diligence between News Corp. and Dow Jones was winding down, and added that the process was basically finished, citing people close to both sides. DJ closed Friday's regular trading session at $57.49, down $0.11 or 0.19% on a volume of 783,800 shares. NWS closed Friday's regular trading session at $23.63, down $0.22 or 0.92% on a volume of 3.52 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.