Dow Jones's family owners split over Murdoch's $5 billion offer, and adviser fees helped decide the vote

The Bancroft family controlled Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal since 1902^†, holding 64 percent of the shareholder vote through a series of trusts. On May 1, 2007 News Corp. made public a $5 billion offer. Many family members opposed it, fearing interference with the Journal's editorial independence. The family's lead trustee, Michael Elefante, controlled slightly less than 30 percent of the vote. Director Christopher Bancroft opposed the deal; cousins Leslie Hill and Elizabeth Steele sat on the board. In late July sentiment shifted when family members realized that rejecting the deal would leave them responsible for large adviser fees, including those of Merrill Lynch and Wachtell Lipton, which they could ask News Corp. to cover if they agreed. By August 1 family members controlling at least 38 percent of the special class of family stock had agreed. On December 13, 2007 shareholders approved the sale, ending more than a century of Bancroft ownership.