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Yesterday, the Bancroft family was undecided about accepting Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones. Today? The deal seems likely to happen, but who the hell knows? There's a proposal on the table for "the Dow Jones board to create a fund to cover payments to firms advising Bancroft family members." Those payments are expected to be around $30 million, but "the money would be paid only if at least one of two key holdout shareholders agreed to the deal: Christopher Bancroft and a group of trusts managed by Denver law firm Holme Roberts & Owen."

This new distraction comes in the wake of "the revelation that Merrill Lynch, which had been representing the family on behalf of the Boston-based branch, had struck a deal for Dow Jones to pay its expenses, while advisers to other parts of the family had no such arrangement.") Anyway, if either of those factions gets on board, the deal is pretty much done. Expect an announcement today (possibly by the time this post goes live!) but, given the way this story has unfolded, don't hold your breath.