Scramble to keep WSJ from Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch's $5bn bid for Dow Jones, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, will still face powerful opposition from within the company's controlling family, even if the media mogul secures agreement from the Dow Jones board in the next few days.

It has emerged that Christopher Bancroft, one of the sprawling clan's most influential voices, is engaged in a frantic last-minute effort to block Mr Murdoch by buying shares from the other Bancrofts most likely to vote in favour of a sale.

The family controls Dow Jones through a special class of shares that have 10 times the voting power of the rest, giving them command of 64 per cent of the vote on any deal. However, the Bancrofts are split on whether to sell out at Mr Murdoch's offer price of $60 (£29.47) per share, a 67 per cent premium on what the share price was before his interest became public.

Mr Bancroft was once seen by Mr Murdoch as a potential swing vote in favour of his bid. Now the 55-year-old great-grandson of Dow Jones founder Clarence Barron has moved into hardened opposition. In May, he said he was open to any deal that benefited the company or the Journal but - referring to the Murdoch bid - "at the moment I don't see anything that would do that".

In recent weeks he has contacted a number of potential co-investors, including hedge funds and private equity firms, about raising cash to buy out family members who are keen to sell. Their super-voting shares revert to ordinary stock if sold outside the family, but a sale to Mr Bancroft would keep their voting power intact.

Even sources close to Mr Bancroft's effort say it is a long shot, and he is believed to have little time left to act. Mr Murdoch was scheduled to have lunch yesterday with the Dow Jones chief executive, Richard Zannino, to whom he first broached a takeover back in March. That engagement could put the seal on several weeks of negotiations between Mr Murdoch and the board, which have included his signing a promise not to intervene in the editorial content of the Journal.

Advisers to Mr Murdoch's company, News Corp, believe that the Dow Jones board has a duty to put its offer to shareholders, but the final decision rests with the Bancrofts. Christopher Bancroft's blocking effort suggests that considerable opposition still remains, as does the work done last week by Leslie Hill, his second cousin, who arranged presentations to the board by people who want to invest in the company if it does not fall to News Corp.