Dow Jones & Company board members met yesterday with a pair of wealthy investors who are interested in buying a piece of the company, even as the company appears to be in the late stages of negotiating a full takeover by the News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The investors, Ronald W. Burkle and Brad Greenspan, did not make a specific offer, according to people familiar with the talks, most of whom insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. Rather, Mr. Burkle and Mr. Greenspan, who initially approached the company separately and who have never before worked together on a deal, hoped to gauge the interest of the Bancroft family, owners of a controlling stake in Dow Jones, in various possible arrangements.

Executives at Dow Jones, which owns The Wall Street Journal, and their advisers remained skeptical about the overtures. They noted that Mr. Burkle and Mr. Greenspan were talking about making a bid involving several other potential investors, but did not have firm commitments from many of them.

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