A New Name for the DJIA?

The Wall Street Journal said Dow Jones & Co. Inc. has held exploratory talks with potential buyers for its equity indexing property in a process conducted by Goldman Sachs. The news report indicated the talks could lead to a joint venture or some other type of corporate combination.

According to the Journal, the indexes business, which creates and licenses indexes for use on mutual funds, exchanged-traded funds, and other products, is a relatively stable and profitable unit for Dow Jones.

For the nine months ending September 2007, the last period reported by the then-independent company, the index unit posted revenues of $101 million. The DJIA was introduced in 1884.

The Journal said representatives from Dow Jones, the News Corporation, and Goldman Sachs all declined to comment.