How the Bancroft family decided to talk with Murdoch

The Bancrofts, owners of a communications empire, were never very good at communicating with one another. For weeks...

The Bancrofts, owners of a communications empire, were never very good at communicating with one another. For weeks, the family that controls Dow Jones 038; Company seemed stalled, unable to agree on Rupert Murdoch8217;s takeover offer, or even on a reply to his letters. Then last week, a family member, Leslie Hill, began prodding relatives to consider at least meeting with Murdoch8217;s News Corporation. Hill may not have changed any minds, but she pushed the family to take a clear stance rather than let things continue to drift.

On Friday May 25, Michael Elefante, a family lawyer and Dow Jones board member, told M Peter McPherson, the company8217;s chairman, that the Bancrofts wanted to meet with the board. What he did not reveal was that privately, a new consensus had emerged: family members arrived at the board meeting Thursday carrying a draft of a statement, released that evening, saying that they had decided to meet with the News Corporation. The meeting will take place Monday at noon.

The decision to meet with News Corporation could be a pivotal moment in the history of a company that the family has controlled for more than a century. Family members are already discussing ways that, in the event of a takeover, an internal governing board might be created to protect the news pages of Dow Jones8217;s centrepiece, The Wall Street Journal, from the influence of Murdoch, whose brand of journalism they disdain.

Murdoch8217;s offer played to a long-simmering generational divide within the Bancroft family between the elders, who held most of the voting power and were opposed to a sale, and their children8217;s generation, some of whom viewed the company as an underperforming asset which needed some kind of shake-up. The dissension was quashed 20 years ago and again 10 years ago, but this time it could not be ignored, as even older members of the family had developed doubts. The shift from rejecting Murdoch8217;s bid to agreeing to meet with him occurred not in a dramatic flourish, but in many small steps that accumulated over weeks. Family members heard a consistent message from their bankers and from Dow Jones officials: Dow Jones had middling long-term prospects, at best, and had little chance of getting the stock price anywhere near the 60 Murdoch offered. 8220;I think some minds were changed over the last month of consulting with their financial advisers,8221; said former Dow Jones board member James Ottaway.