NEW YORK (Bloomberg) Rupert Murdoch has enough support to complete his $5 billion purchase of Dow Jones & Co. after Bancroft family members controlling at least 38 percent of the company agreed to a sale, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Shares of Dow Jones, publisher of the Journal, approached Murdoch's $60 bid, rising 11 percent to $57.38 at 4.02 p.m. The offer is 65 percent more than the stock price before his bid became public, a premium that may have won over members of the divided family that has controlled Dow Jones for 105 years.

Approval by the Bancrofts, who wrestled with News Corp.'s offer for more than three months, would clear the way for Murdoch to fulfill a longstanding goal of acquiring the Journal to buttress his television and newspaper holdings. Dow Jones's stock dropped to $51.56 yesterday as investors speculated the Bancrofts would oppose the deal on concern Murdoch would threaten the Journal's integrity.

"Common sense triumphed over the lethargy they've demonstrated in the last 25 years in their oversight of Dow Jones," said Peter Kreisky, president of Kreisky Media Consultancy in Boston. "They realised that their concerns about editorial independence were ultimately less important than the opportunity to create a sustainable business for the Wall Street Journal."

The process of polling the Bancrofts on a sale is still under way, family spokesman Roy Winnick said in a statement today. It would be "premature" to say the process was complete or to say that a certain percentage of the family is in favor of a deal, he said.

Dow Jones spokeswoman Linda Dunbar and News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher declined to comment on the report.

The Journal said a Bancroft trust run by a Denver law firm agreed to support a sale after holding out for a higher offer earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter. CNBC said a purchase agreement would be completed late yesterday. The $60-a-share price is worth about $1.23 billion to the family.

"The swing votes were from family members considering the money they would lose in the drop in the share price, the money they would have to pay in fees and the fact they'd never see a bid like this again," said Richard Dorfman, managing director at Richard Alan Inc., a New York-based investment company.

According to the Journal, News Corp.'s board was scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. yesterday and Dow Jones's board was to meet three hours later.

Common shareholders with about 29 percent of the vote are expected to support the transaction in overwhelming numbers, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.