Exactly three months after he made his formal offer known, Rupert Murdoch has won the media giant he has long coveted, News Corp. announced.

It is now all but certain that Dow Jones & Co. will be under the control of News Corp., putting media properties including the Wall Street Journal and Barron's in the same family as the New York Post and Fox News.

Dow Jones announced that the Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of Dow Jones' voting shares, cast 37 percent of its shares in favor of the merger after a long and bitter battle. It is widely expected that around 29 percent of the common Dow Jones shareholder votes will also approve the merger when they are tallied at a meeting in September.

The terms of the deal call for News Corp. to fund the costs of the Bancroft family's financial advisory fees, which could total more than $30 million. The fund will pay for the cost of unwinding the complex arrangement of trusts under the Bancroft name.

"Given the Bancrofts' long and distinguished history as custodians of Dow Jones, we appreciate how difficult this decision was for some family members," Murdoch said in a statement. "I want to offer the Bancrofts my thanks, and an assurance that our company and my family will be equally strong custodians."

Murdoch's influence over his media properties, including his history of putting his business interests before editorial objectivity, has been a source of controversy as the merger has been contemplated. (See related essay by former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil here.) The Wall Street Journal is widely viewed as a pillar of integrity, and Murdoch will now determine the fate of its editorial independence.

The two sides agreed to appoint a five-member committee to ensure that editorial independence remains intact at the Dow Jones publications. The initial members of the committee will be Louis Boccardi, Thomas Bray, Jennifer Dunn, Jack Fuller, and Nicholas Negroponte.

News Corp. also agreed to appoint a Bancroft family member or other acceptable person to the company's board of directors.
 
The deal is a coup for Fox News, which is launching a new business television channel this fall to compete with CNBC. The new channel will benefit from having access to Dow Jones' content, which includes Dow Jones Newswires, Marketwatch, and SmartMoney, in addition to the Wall Street Journal and the weekly Barron's.

Also on Portfolio.com:

• Lessons From a Former Murdoch Man
• What Do Journal Readers Think?
• Rupert Murdoch Gets a Mandate, and a Trophy
• Nicholas Negroponte, WSJ Guardian 
• Rupert Murdoch, Victorious
• The Moral Case Against Murdoch
• Yes, but Is It Art?

Related Links:

• WSJ.com: Murdoch Wins His Bid for Dow Jones
• FT.com: Murdoch Clinches Deal to Buy Dow Jones
• NYTimes.com: Murdoch's Past May Offer Clues to the Future of the Journal