Murdoch's News Corp to Buy Dow Jones (1/2)

One of the top stories in business news this week was -- business news. Dow Jones agreed to be bought by News Corporation. This means the publisher of the Wall Street Journal will be owned by the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

The 2 companies announced Wednesday that they have signed a merger agreement. The deal is valued at just over five and a half billion dollars.

For the past century, the controlling shareholder in Dow Jones and Company has been the Bancroft family. The announcement said family members with about thirty-seven percent of Dow Jones' voting stock have agreed to support the deal. That would represent a majority of the 64% share owned by the family.

The deal ends four months of negotiations that deeply divided the Bancrofts. Reports say family members agreed to the deal after a promise of at least 30 million dollars to pay their lawyers and financial advisors.