Murdoch, Dow Jones bid on track

New Delhi: The Dow Jones bid by Rupert Murdoch is taking positive turns.

Murdoch described his talks with Bancroft family as long and constructive. This means a deal might be clinched within a week.

The family had initially rebuffed Murdoch's $5 billion (€3.71 billion) offer for the company in early May, but last Thursday they agreed to meet with him. In a statement, the family said they were most concerned about protecting the editorial independence and integrity of the Wall Street Journal.

The most contentious issue has been the territorial integrity of the company. The deal has been valued at $5 billion.

The union representing Dow Jones employees, which strongly opposes Murdoch's bid, said Monday it had retained financial advisers to explore alternatives to selling the company to Murdoch.

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees said in a statement that it was working with a firm called Ownership Associates of Cambridge, Mass., to reach out to potential investors.

That firm had also worked with newspaper union representatives last year in an effort to buy the Knight Ridder Inc, which wound up being sold to McClatchy Co, a California-based newspaper company. Steve Yount, the president of IAPE, declined in an interview to say which potential investors they were approaching.

Dow Jones declined to comment about the meeting with Murdoch, but the Journal reported Monday that the gathering at the Bancrofts' law firm of Wachtel, Lipton in New York, would be part social gathering and part business meeting.

Murdoch emerged from the building late Monday afternoon and said the meeting had been long and constructive, but he did not go into detail. A Bancroft family spokesman said the two sides ''had a constructive dialogue and have gone back to consider our positions,'' but he declined to elaborate.

In addition to Murdoch, also expected to attend were Murdoch's son James, who runs British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, a company part-owned by Murdoch's News Corp. media conglomerate, as well as News Corp.'s chief financial officer and general counsel.

(With agency inputs)