Murdoch Poised to Seal Dow Jones Deal

Updated from 1:01 p.m. EDT

Shares of Dow Jones (DJ) surged 12% Tuesday as Rupert Murdoch appeared to be closing in on his quest to own the Wall Street Journal publisher.

The deal has garnered enough support from Dow Jones' controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, to clinch the agreement, the Journal reported Tuesday. Cable-news channel CNBC reported that the $5 billion sale to Murdoch's News Corp. (NWS) is a "done deal," with a definitive agreement likely to come by Tuesday evening.

Shares of Dow Jones recently were climbing $5.94 to $57.50. News Corp. has offered $60 a share for the company, a bid that represented a 67% premium over its stock price when the bid became public in early May.

The Bancrofts control Dow Jones through a web of trusts that own a separate class of shares endowed with 64% of the company's voting power. According to the Journal , family members owning at least 32% of Dow Jones overall votes will support the deal.

That would be enough to clear the way for a sale when combined with votes from public shareholders -- who are assumed to be in favor of a deal.

A Bancroft family spokesman cautioned that it's too early to make a determination on the family's position.

"The process of canvassing the Bancroft family members and trustees as to whether they wish to commit their respective shares to the proposed News Corporation transaction is still under way," the spokesman said in a statement. "Any suggestion that the process has been completed and/or that a particular level of support has been established is at this point premature."

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