The sharp divisions evident within the Bancroft family over the possible sale of Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal, to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have cast uncertainty about Dow Jones’s prospects in the event a sale is voted down.

Warnings that Dow Jones’s fortunes will slide if the sale is rejected have led to a heated debate among the Bancroft family. The family is due to reveal to trustees the result of its internal disputations on Monday.