Financial Times publisher Pearson Plc. is seeking partners to make a possible bid for Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones & Co. Inc., the Journal reported on its Web site on Friday.

Pearson has talked about potential partners, including U.S. newspaper publisher Hearst Corp. and General Electric Co., which owns business news channel CNBC, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Dow Jones's controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, are considering a $5 billion buyout bid from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

A number of London-based analysts have said Murdoch's bid, if successful, could make Dow Jones a more aggressive competitor against Pearson. The Financial Times competes with the Wall Street Journal, although the paper, which has a stronghold in Europe, has far fewer U.S. readers than the New York-based Journal.

New York-based analyst Ed Atorino of Benchmark Co. said Pearson would not be able to pull off a bid without partners.

I don't believe financially it would be possible, he said. They don't have the scale or the balance sheet.

Steven Yount, president of the Dow Jones employee union, which is seeking other bidders to challenge Murdoch, said he was unaware of any interest from Pearson.

I have not reached out to Pearson and they have not talked to me, he said.

The union has approached Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Warren Buffett about making a bid for Dow Jones. Berkshire Hathaway owns about 20 percent of the outstanding shares of the Washington Post Co. Billionaire investor, Ron Burkle, is advising the union on bids.

Another potential bidder for Dow Jones is Brian Tierney, who led an investor group to buy The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. Tierney has said he would be interested in working with partners on a bid.

The Bancroft family met Murdoch earlier this month, but some members have opposed his bid because they fear he would not preserve the editorial independence of Dow Jones's news operations.

That may make an offer from Pearson more attractive to the Bancrofts, Atorino said.

I guess anybody would be more attractive than Murdoch, from what they've said publicly and all these rules they want to put in.

Dow Jones, Pearson, GE, Hearst and News Corp. officials declined to comment. A spokesman for the Bancroft family was not immediately available for comment.

Pearson is the world's largest educational publisher. It publishes school textbooks, the Financial Times and Les Echos newspapers and general-interest books at its Penguin unit.

The company, headed by Texas-born Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino, has been particularly active on the acquisition front recently, although its deals have centered on strengthening its hand in education publishing businesses.

Shares in Pearson rose 1.1 percent to 873 pence, valuing the business at around 7 billion pounds ($13.80 billion).

Dow Jones shares rose to $59.55 in after-hours trading after closing up 1.9 percent at $59.01 on the New York Stock Exchange.

($1=.5074 Pound)

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