Publisher Rupert Murdoch took a critical step towards control of the Wall Street Journal last night, as the Dow Jones board voted to approve a $5 billion sale of the company to the media magnate. Whether the majority-owning Bancroft family will also approve the deal is too close to call, the Journal reports.
Two of the 16 Dow Jones board members, including a member of the Bancroft family, abstained, and a third, a Bancroft family member who had actively opposed the sale, left the meeting. The Bancrofts are expected to meet Monday in Boston, where the family's law firm is located. Family members may try to squeeze Murdoch for more than his current offer of $60 a share. (More Wall Street Journal stories.)