Dow Jones & Co.'s board and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. have completed talks on a $5 billion buyout of Dow Jones and are expected to announce a deal next week, London's The Business weekly magazine reported on Friday.

Citing sources acting for the Dow Jones board, the report said the two sides have agreed to Murdoch's original $60 per share offer for Dow Jones. That would counter speculation that Murdoch might need to raise his bid by a few dollars per share to clinch an agreement.

The agreement awaits approval from the Bancroft family, Dow Jones' controlling shareholders.

Representatives for Dow Jones, News Corp. and the Bancroft family could not immediately be reached.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last week the two sides had reached a tentative agreement on preserving editorial independence at Dow Jones' flagship Wall Street Journal newspaper, a key step in convincing the Bancrofts to accept a deal.

Murdoch told Reuters last Wednesday that he expected final approval from the Bancrofts within two to three weeks if at all and that he had no plans to raise the price of his offer.

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