The pace of deal activity in the newspaper space continues to accelerate, with News Corp. making the latest bid for a major U.S. publisher. News Corp. has offered $60 a share for Dow Jones (NYSE:DJ) which is controlled by the Bancroft family through the use of a two-tiered ownership structure similar to most other major dailies. The $5 billion offer represents a significant premium over the $32-$40 per share trading range of Dow Jones’ stock over the past year. Dow Jones publishes the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Dow Jones Newswires, some leading market indicators, and a bunch of weekly community newspapers and local shoppers. CNBC is reporting that the Bancroft family is rejecting the offer, though they may eventually sell for a higher price. If they do, in fact, end up walking away from the offer, it will go down as one of the worst non-sales of the decade, right up there with Facebook’s rejecting Yahoo’s $1.62 billion offer from yahoo!.

Tags: Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, Bancroft Family, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, Daily Newspapers, Facebook, Yahoo!, Barron’s, Buy Low/Sell High