What is Dow Jones & Company » The Company

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average tracks publicly listed corporations on the stock market, Dow Jones & Company is not itself a public company. The firm was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward T. Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. The first financial news publication for this company was “The Customer Afternoon Letter.” In 1889, they founded the Wall Street Journal, which remains one of the world’s leading financial dailies.

Charles Dow was known for his ability to ethically explain complicated financial news to the public. He believed that investors needed a simple index to know if the stock market was going up or down. Dow chose several industrial stocks for his first index, and the first reported average was 40.94.

The company was bought in 1902 by journalist Clarence Barron, who in turn inherited it from his stepdaughters Jane and Martha. The company would be directed by Hugh Bancroft, husband of Jane, and after 1933, Dow Jones & Company was owned by the heirs of Hugh Bancroft. In 2007 the company was acquired by Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average

It’s easy to confuse the Dow Jones with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) Often referred to as the “Dow Jones,” the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the most closely watched stock index in the world, containing major companies such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Exxon.

Dow Jones (The Company) owns the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as well as many other indices representing different sectors of the economy, including the oldest index, the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which tracks 20 transportation companies, including airlines and postal delivery services. The company’s other important index is the Dow Jones Utilities Average, which tracks the shares of 15 utility companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the world of finance you will frequently hear people ask:

How was the New York Stock Market? o How was the performance today on Wall Street?

In both cases, these people may be referring to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as it is the most widely used index, both over the S&P 500 index, which tracks America’s 500 largest publicly listed companies, and the Nasdaq Composite Index, which includes more than 3,000 US and international companies.

Dow Jones Company Publications

As we mentioned initially, its main financial publication is the Wall Street Journal, whose first edition was made public on July 8, 1889.

Other versions of the Wall Street Journal exist including:

The Wall Street Journal Asia, on Asian companies and businesses.

The Wall Street Journal Europe.

The Wall Street Journal Special Editions, a special division that publishes translations of articles for inclusion in local newspapers, especially in Latin America.

Other print publications include Barron’s Magazine, published weekly, Far Eastern Economic Review, published monthly, and SmartMoney magazine.

Dow Jones also owns Ottaway Newspapers Inc, which publishes several local newspapers in the United States.

Company Indices

The main stock indices for which the Dow Jones company is responsible are:

Dow Jones Composite Average

Dow Jones Global Titans

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, “Dow 30,” or also just “the Dow Jones” or the “Dow”)

Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA)

Dow Jones Utility Average

Dow Jones US Large Cap Growth

Dow Jones US Large Cap Value

Dow Jones US Small Cap Growth

Dow Jones US Small Cap Value

Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index

Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes

Collaborations

The Dow Jones Company contributes news content to the CNBC television network, as well as two programs for commercial radio, the Wall Street Journal Report, and the Dow Jones Money Report.

Company Property

The company is structured as a Limited Company and was acquired for $5 billion at $60 per share by News Corporation (Australian tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s financial conglomerate) on August 1, 2007.

Until before the purchase, the Dow Jones company was controlled by the Bancroft family, which owned 64% of the voting shares.

Income

Dow Jones & Company currently has annual net earnings of $386.56 million and revenue of $1.5 billion.

Company Address

The current chief executive of Dow Jones & Company is William Lewis, a British-born journalist, and editor who graduated from the University of Bristol, who has worked for the Mail on Sunday, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, the Telegraph Media Group, and currently for News International, owned by News Corporation.

With information from Investopedia.