Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has reportedly reached a preliminary agreement to takeover the Dow Jones newspaper publisher.
According to the Wall Street Journal itself, the Australian press baron will pay $5 billion (£2.5 billion) to acquire the paper.
News Corp, which says its offer is friendly, first submitted a bid three months ago, and this will now be put to the Dow Jones board.
The Wall Street Journal says that the offer was tentatively accepted by Dow Jones chief executive Richard Zannino yesterday, despite News Corp, which owns the Sun and the Times in the UK, refusing to raise his preliminary $60 (£30) per share offer.
But the bid could still be thrown back by the influential Bancroft family, which controls almost two-thirds of voting power in Dow Jones.
The family is expected to take several days to reach a decision, with the Wall Street Journal quoting an unnamed insider as saying the outcome was "too close to call".
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