NEW YORK — The Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, says they don't want to sell the company to Rupert Murdoch at $60 a share. But would they sell at a higher price, or to someone else?

Those are the questions racing through Wall Street and the newspaper industry today, a day after Murdoch announced his unsolicited bid, only to have it spurned hours later.

Even though the Bancrofts said yesterday after markets closed that they would quash the deal — which they have the power to do since they control the company's shareholder vote through a special class of shares — investors were still holding out hope that some kind of deal would emerge.

Dow Jones shares gave up hardly any ground today, shedding just 31 cents to $55.89, still far above their closing value of $36.33 on Monday, the day before the news came out of the offer, and not far off the $60 per share proposal that Murdoch's News Corp. media conglomerate made.

FACTORY ORDERS UP 3.1%

WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories surged in March by the largest amount in a year, an encouraging sign that the recent slowdown in manufacturing may be ending.

The Commerce Department said today that total factory orders rose by 3.1 percent in March, pushed higher by a big jump in demand for commercial aircraft and the biggest rise in the category that tracks business investment in new equipment in 2› years.

The increase was far better than the 2 percent figure that analysts had been expecting and offered hope that manufacturers were beginning to experience rising demand after a recent weak period brought on by troubles in housing and auto sales.

The good news on factory orders followed a report from the Institute for Supply Management that its closely watched gauge of manufacturing activity rose to 54.7 in April, the best showing in 11 months.

CABLEVISION GOING PRIVATE

NEW YORK — Cablevision Systems Corp., a New York-area cable TV provider that also owns Madison Square Garden, said today it has agreed to be taken private by the Dolan family, the company's controlling shareholders, in a deal worth about $10.6 billion.

It was the Dolans' third attempt to take the company private in recent years, the first two having been rejected as inadequate by a two-person committee of independent directors on its board.

That committee, and the full board of directors, have approved the Dolans' latest offer of $36.26 per share, the company said in a statement, saying it was in the best interests of public shareholders.

Last fall, the Dolans offered to take the company private at $27 per share in cash, and in January raised the offer to $30, but that offer, too, was deemed inadequate by the board committee.

Those directors had also rejected a more complex bid the Dolans made in 2005 to pay $21 in cash plus stock from a newly created public company containing Madison Square Garden and a group of cable channels.

TIME WARNER PROFIT DOWN

NEW YORK — Media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. said today its first-quarter profit slipped 18 percent but beat Wall Street expectations as growth in its cable segment helped lift revenue by 9 percent.

Net income slipped to $1.20 billion, or 31 cents per share, from $1.46 billion, or 32 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time gains, profit from continuing operations totaled 22 cents per share in the latest period, ahead of the 20 cents per share that analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been expecting and also above the 20 cents per share that the company earned on a comparable basis in the same period a year ago.

Revenue grew to $11.18 billion from $10.24 billion, led by growth in cable television.

Time Warner also raised its full-year profit outlook, saying it now expected to earn $1.05 per share, including 10 cents per share of gains from asset sales such as the sale of AOL's Internet access business in Germany and some sales of cable systems. In January Time Warner said it expected to earn $1.00 per share in 2007.

SPRINT SUFFERS LOSS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, said today it swung to a first-quarter loss as investments in operations wiped out modest gains in sales.

For the January-March quarter, the Reston, Va.-based company reported losing $211 million, or 7 cents per share, versus $417 million, or 14 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time amortization charges, Sprint Nextel said it earned 18 cents per share, well below the 22 cents per share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenues for the quarter rose slightly to $10.1 billion from $10.07 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected $10.31 billion in sales.

The company reiterated its expectation of annual revenues between $41 billion and $42 billion. Analysts predict sales of $41.4 billion and 2007 earnings of 90 cents per share.

MASTERCARD SEES GAINS

NEW YORK — MasterCard Inc., the world's second-biggest credit card franchise, today reported favorable currency exchanges and stronger use of its brand overseas led to a record first-quarter profit.

The Purchase, New York-based company said profit for the first three months of the year rose to $214.9 million, or $1.57 per share, from $126.7 million, or 94 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue climbed 24 percent to $915.1 million from $738.5 million.

The No. 2 card network behind Visa easily topped Wall Street projections for earnings of $1.15 per share on revenue of $840 million, according to analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

MasterCard shares have almost tripled since it raised $2.39 billion in an initial public offering on May 24 and converted to a public company from a private, members-only association for financial institutions. The stock surged $11.50, or 10 percent, to $126.35, exceeding a previous 52-week high of $118.07.

FANNIE MAE PROFIT UP 26%

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae, which finances one of every five home loans in the United States, reported today its profit rose 26 percent in 2005, but expects to report lower earnings for 2006. It also named a new chief financial officer and raised its dividend.

The government-sponsored company is remaking itself as it recovers from a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal. The 2005 report was its first public reckoning of finances since it announced a restatement in December that erased $6.3 billion in previously reported profit for 2001-2004.

The company, which undertook a massive reworking of its accounting after the scandal became known in September 2004, expects to file its 2006 results before the end of the year.