Mumbai: Rupert Murdoch''s News Corp and business newswire Dow Jones & Co. have refuted media reports that the two sides have successfully completed their talks and have reached an agreement.

The Business, a London-based magazine had reported that Dow Jones had accepted Murdoch''s original $5 billion, $60-a-share offer and that a deal was expected to be announced next week, citing unnamed sources acting for the Dow Jones board.

The magazine had said on its web site that sources acting for the Dow Jones board said that negotiations on the deal have been completed and that the board is confident it will be accepted by the Bancrofts, over the next few days.

Dow Jones and News Corp. have been engaged in due diligence for more than a week. People on both sides of the negotiations say the process has been smooth, with an agreement on price possible soon, according to the report.

The report, written by Andrew Neil, a former Murdoch lieutenant and the chief executive of Press Holdings Media Group, which owns The Business, said that the deal was delayed until agreement was reached on a legally enforceable undertaking by Murdoch to "preserve The Wall Street Journal''s editorial independence."

A News Corp. spokesman said "the company is unaware of the truth or otherwise of the report in the British magazine."

Investors were expecting a sweetened offer from Murdoch to clinch a deal. Dow Jones said the report about an agreement in principle was incorrect.

"There is no change in the status of the discussions currently underway," a spokesman for the Bancroft family said. "News Corp. is continuing to conduct due diligence and the negotiations are not complete."

Meanwhile quoting a media report on Sunday, MarketWatch, owned by The Wall Street Journal, the flagship of Dow Jones, reported that even as negotiations with News Corp. move closer to an overall agreement, Dow Jones is making one last effort to find other possible buyers for itself.

According to the report, the board committee that has been examining Rupert Murdoch''s is scheduled to meet today with California supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, who has expressed interest in teaming with Dow Jones''s union to find alternatives to News Corp.''s bid.

It is unclear what Burkle may propose, says MarketWatc, quoting WSJ, but he has been exploring a structure for Dow Jones that would incorporate an employee stock-ownership plan.

Dow Jones owns the The Wall Street Journal and MarketWatch, the publisher of this report, among other media properties.

Murdoch has made an unsolicited $5 billion offer to buy the publisher of The Wall Street Journal newspaper. The offer valued Dow Jones at a 65 per cent premium to its stock price before the bid was disclosed publicly in May.

A deal for Dow Jones and the The Wall Street Journal, viewed as one of the world''s most reputable newspapers, would help anchor News Corp''s soon-to-be-launched Fox Business Channel, a cable news network rival to General Electric''s CNBC.

About three dozen Bancroft family members control Dow Jones through a combined ownership of 64 per cent of voting shares.