NEW YORK -- Dow Jones & Co. Inc. shares fell as much as 4 percent on Monday after an analyst wrote that News Corp. may be ready to walk away from a $5 billion offer to buy The Wall Street Journal publisher.

"We believe News Corp. is increasingly frustrated with the Bancroft family," Pali Capital analyst Richard Greenfield wrote. "Given no apparent desire by Dow Jones's controlling shareholders to negotiate, News Corp. is left with little choice other than to walk away from Dow Jones (for now)."

Greenfield wrote that News Corp. might say it is backing off its plan to buy Dow Jones in the next couple of weeks.

"While there is strategic merit to a (News Corp.) acquisition of Dow Jones, it is not a 'must-have' for News Corp.," he said.

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Dow Jones shares fell $1.54, or 2.91 percent, to $51.41 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading. Shares touched as low as $50.80 earlier in the session. News Corp. shares rose 1 percent to $22.28.

News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch in April offered $60 per share for Dow Jones, which also owns Barron's business weekly and Dow Jones Newswires, which competes with Reuters Group Plc in financial news.

Most of the Bancroft family, which controls the company with a class of super-voting shares, opposes the deal. Dow Jones's board has said as a result that it would not consider Murdoch's offer.

Murdoch has said in published reports that he wants to meet the Bancrofts as well as employees at The Wall Street Journal. Both groups have said they oppose Murdoch's bid for fear it would damage the editorial integrity of the paper.

In the meantime, financial analysts and other experts have tried to predict what Murdoch will do. Benchmark Co. analyst Edward Atorino believes that Murdoch will raise his bid.

"I just find it hard to believe that he's going to make this big publicized effort and then just sort of walk away because they said 'no,"' Atorino said.

Representatives for Dow Jones and News Corp., and a lawyer for the Bancroft family were not immediately available for comment.

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