New York: The board of Dow Jones & Co Inc endorsed on Tuesday a $5 billion buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp sending the deal to the controlling Bancroft family for final approval.
The 16 members of the board, which met for several hours in the evening, were not unanimous in their decision but a "strong majority" voted to recommend approving the deal, said one source familiar with the matter.
The board "has determined that it would be prepared to approve, and recommend to the Dow Jones stockholders, including the Bancroft Family stockholders, a merger agreement," Dow Jones said in a statement.
Bancroft family members, who control 64 percent of Dow Jones's voting shares, are evaluating the offer, the company said. The family is set to meet on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones' flagship property.
Two Bancroft board directors -- Leslie Hill and Dieter von Holtzbrinck -- abstained from the vote, according to the Journal. The third family member on the board, Christopher Bancroft, left the meeting early, it reported, citing unidentified sources.
News Corp. proposed in April to buy all outstanding shares of Dow Jones's common and Class B stock for $60 per share.
Shares in News Corp rose 1.6 percent to A$28.00 at 0500 GMT in Sydney. Before the news was released, Dow Jones closed down 0.9 percent at $56.45 and News Corp. ended 2.4 percent higher at $22.48 in New York.
The rich, 65 percent premium was welcomed by many shareholders, though a number of Bancrofts opposed the bid because they fear that Murdoch would use the platform provided by Dow Jones's news operations, particularly the Journal, to aid his business interests.
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