Dow Jones family reaches crossroad

Members of the far-flung Bancroft family converged in downtown Boston yesterday for a seven-hour meeting to discuss the fate of Dow Jones & Co., the media conglomerate they have controlled for more than a century, and one key family member said he expects a decision to be reached by the end of the week about Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion bid to buy the company.

Between 20 and 30 of the roughly three dozen adult members of the Bancrofts -- who collectively have a 64 percent voting stake in the parent company of the Wall Street Journal -- congregated at the Hilton hotel in the Financial District, along with several of their legal and financial advisers. Additional family members participated by telephone.

After the private meeting, which began with a 1 p.m. lunch and continued until 8 in the evening, Boston attorney Michael B. Elefante, a Dow Jones board member and trustee for one of the Bancroft family's most influential trusts, made a one-sentence statement.

"The family had a very productive meeting and now have all the information they need to make a good decision about the News Corp. offer," Elefante said before going back inside the hotel. He did not take questions.

But Dow Jones board member Christopher Bancroft , who briefly answered reporters' questions as he exited the hotel, said a decision must be made by the end of the week in accordance with a deadline set by Murdoch's News Corp.

"Some people are for it and some people are against it," Bancroft, who left the meeting shortly before 7 p.m., added when asked about the proposed sale. "I want the best possible outcome for Dow Jones & Co."

Bancroft, who is opposed to a sale, also said he has not changed his mind as a result of the session.

The proposed sale of the company has deeply divided the sprawling family. Some members oppose a sale because they fear that the company's editorial integrity would be compromised under Murdoch. But the $60 a share bid is enticing at a time when the newspaper industry is in a deep downturn.

Bancroft family members began trickling into the Broad Street hotel yesterday afternoon. Christopher Bancroft arrived in a fishing cap that said "Bite Me" with a piece of luggage draped over each shoulder. Leslie Hill, another reported opponent of the sale, also attended the meeting, as did William Cox Jr. , although he left the meeting around 5 p.m. Dow Jones board member Lewis B. Campbell, chief executive of Textron Inc., was also in attendance.

As planned, yesterday's meeting was simply informational. No vote was held, and no resolution was reached.

A Bancroft family representative described the gathering as a "data dump" intended to make sure that the family members and trustees who attended "have all the information they need to make an informed decision."

At the meeting, participants were briefed on the current status of the News Corp. proposal, reviewed the merits and risks of a possible sale, and discussed the positive and negative aspects of any alternative proposals. Participants were also given the opportunity to ask questions and express their views.

The next step in the process falls largely in the hands of Elefante, whose Boston law firm, Hemenway & Barnes, which specializes in managing the trusts and estates of wealthy families, has a hand in about three-quarters of the Bancroft family's roughly 100 trusts. Elefante is the firm's principal trustee for the Bancroft trusts.

After family members have had several days to consider the proposal, Elefante will poll them individually to determine whether they support the sale. He will then inform News Corp. and the Dow Jones board of the family's level of support. The family does not have to vote as a bloc.

Only if there is sufficient family backing will the process go forward, although News Corp. has not indicated what level of support it would consider sufficient to pursue a purchase.

As they arrived and departed, attendees had to navigate clusters of more than a dozen reporters and news photographers stationed at the hotel's two entrances. As the meeting dragged on, Hilton staff and security spent much of the afternoon shooing reporters out of the hotel lobby and onto the sidewalk, where the media scrum gathered under entryway canopies to stay dry in the passing rain.

M. Peter McPherson, chairman of the Dow Jones board, declined to make any remarks as he departed, saying, "It would be inappropriate to comment on a family meeting."

Globe correspondent Se Young Lee contributed to this story. Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com and Robert Weisman at weisman@globe.com.