Report: Bancroft family accepts News Corp. offer to buy Dow Jones

New York—The Bancroft family, which owns a controlling interest in Dow Jones & Co. has accepted News Corp.'s $5 billion offer to buy the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported late Tuesday morning.

"The Bancroft family has accepted," John Prestbo, editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes, told reporters Tuesday in Chicago. Dow Jones "will be part of News Corp," he said.

Prestbo told Reuters the information came from an internal company memo.

Negotiations for a sale had stalled Monday over the issue of payment of advisory fees to the Bancrofts in order to gain support for the deal from family members who were holding out, according to the Journal.

—Matthew Schwartz