The fate of Dow Jones and its flagship Wall Street Journal newspaper were thrown into question on Tuesday after the Bancroft family, the company’s controlling shareholder, rebuffed an unsolicited $5bn bid from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

In spite of the rejection, Mr Murdoch’s first pass revealed a split among the Bancrofts, and spurred speculation that News Corp would increase its offer, or that other media groups or private equity firms would join the fray for one of the world’s most influential newspapers.