After months of negotiations, the Dow Jones & Co. Inc. board has voted in favour of a $5 billion buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The deal will have to be approved by the Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of Dow Jones' voting shares.

The 16-member board was not unanimous in its decision, but a “strong majority” voted to approve the deal, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“(The board) has determined that it would be prepared to approve, and recommend to the Dow Jones stockholders, including the Bancroft Family stockholders, a merger agreement,” Dow Jones executives said in a statement.

The Bancroft family is evaluating the offer, the company has said, and will meet Monday, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal, the flaship newspaper Dow Jones publishes.