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NEW YORK - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Dow Jones have "basically agreed" on safeguards to the editorial independence of Dow Jones' news operations, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday, setting the stage for Dow Jones to accept a US$5 billion ($6.54 billion) buyout offer.
The source said Dow Jones' controlling family, the Bancrofts, would be consulted on the agreement, which was reached late Monday evening. The Bancroft family must approve any deal with News Corp.
A separate source close to the situation said an agreement, which would cover the Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones Newswires, was near but some items remained unresolved. The source did not elaborate.
Details of the revised agreement were not immediately available. It was also not known whether discussions over raising Murdoch's US$60 per share bid had commenced.
News Corp, Dow Jones and a representative for the Bancrofts declined comment.
A pact to protect journalistic integrity is seen as one of the biggest hurdles to Murdoch's high-priced quest for Dow Jones, which also publishes Barron's and business news website MarketWatch.com.
Murdoch, News Corp's chief executive, is building his own financial news channel for cable television, aiming to usurp General Electric's CNBC, which has a news partnership with Dow Jones.
But journalism watchdogs and some reporters and editors at the Wall Street Journal fear Murdoch's brand of tabloid journalism would sully the newspaper's image as one of the world's most reliable sources of business news.
Discussions accelerated last week after Dow Jones said its board would take over negotiations with News Corp.
- REUTERS
