Bancroft Family Agrees to Sell Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch

Australian Rupert Murdoch will become America's most powerful news executive if today's tentative $5 billion deal with the Bancroft Family gives him Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. Three dozen members of the Bancroft family were reportedly "deeply divided" over the deal which could threaten the credibility of the Journal. Did Murdoch make them an offer they couldn't refuse? Dow Jones stock was trading at $36 a share when Murdoch offered to buy it for $60. Louis Ureneck chairs that Journalism Department at Boston University.