‘Too Close To Call’

Recapping the Bancroft family’s meeting in Boston to decide the fate of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal: the family is split, with the infighting said to be vicious — 77-year-old Jane Cox MacElree thinks the deal would “compromise the Journal‘s indepdence.” However, two of MacElree’s sons, Thomas Hill and Crawford Hill, support a Murdoch purchase. Crawford — who skipped attending in person and instead called in while on vacation in Spain said it was “ironic” that “all these years we haven’t done enough to question management … It seems like bad timing to start now.” Meanwhile, MacElree’s daughter Leslie Hill is spearheading opposition in the family and bought a quarter-inch-thick manila envelope filled with letters from Journal reporters and editors opposed to Murdoch. But there are still a few swing votes among the Bancrofts:

• Michael Elefante, the family’s trustee.
  
• William Cox Jr., member of another branch of the Bancroft family.
  
• Law firm Holme Roberts & Owen, who manage trusts that control 9.1% of the Dow Jones vote.

In related news, the Journal newsroom had their way with a four-foot-tall portrait of Rupe.

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