The Bancroft member who changed her mind

David Litterick of The Telegraph newspaper in England writes for Monday’s paper about the Bancroft family member, Leslie Hill, who is apparently spearheading the change of heart from family members so that they’re now willing to talk to News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch about selling Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch.

Litterick wrote, “Leslie Hill, a fourth generation of the Bancroft family who sits on the Dow Jones board, is understood to have been instrumental in persuading other members of the 30-strong family to sit down with the News Corporation chairman.

“Ms Hill, who once worked for American Airlines, is one of the most influential members of the Cox/Hill branch of the Bancroft clan – descendants of Hugh Bancroft’s second (of three) children, Jessie Bancroft Cox.

“Although she voted against the proposal in the first vote after news of Mr Murdoch’s $5bn bid emerged, she is said to have been uncomfortable with her decision. Family rifts and accusations that certain members were being denied information only added to her later belief that it was at last time to consider that the future of Dow Jones may lie elsewhere.”

Read more here.