Quoting sources familiar with the matter, Wall Street Journal reported that Pearson is seeking a partnership with General Electric for a deal. The representatives of the two companies declined to comment the information when asked by media.

But on Monday, Wall Street Journal and New York reported that General Electric (GE) company had joined discussions with London's Financial Times (FT), owned by Pearson, for a deal.

According to the reports, the Bancroft family, the owner of Dow Jones, would drop down to a minority interest and cede 40 to 45 per cent to each of the other two parties - to the Pearson company that publishes FT, and to GE.

Under the new scenario, GE's CNBC business channel, the FT and Dow Jones would be combined into a privately held joint venture, the reports said.

The news media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, the owner of New Corp has made a 5-billion-dollar bid for Dow Jones. The Bancroft family initially rejected the offer, but last week the family said that it is still working on a proposal to send to Murdoch's News Corp that would protect the newspaper's editorial independence.