Bancroft proposal to Murdoch on Wednesday

Joshua Chaffin and Aline van Duyn of The Financial Times write for Wednesday’s paper that the Bancroft family was putting the finishing touches on its proposal to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch for a board that would keep him from interfering with the journalism at The Wall Street Journal if they sell its parent company, Dow Jones & Co., to him.

Chaffin and van Duyn wrote, “Family members, working with their lawyers and financial advisers, were expected to send the proposal to Mr Murdoch on Wednesday, pushing forward negotiations with News Corp over its $5bn offer.

“However, people familiar with the matter suggested that the negotiations between the two parties over editorial controls could drag on for some time.”

Later, they added, “The Bancrofts have taken a dim view of the editorial board at the Times of London, another News Corp paper which Mr Murdoch has offered as a model for the Journal, according to several people familiar with the family. These people suggested that any proposal would have to be designed to ensure that board members or other parties felt obligated to act and seek remedies if the paper’s values were being compromised.”

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