News Corp. is considering selling the venerable Dow Jones indexing business, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to reports posted on the Wall Street Journal’s Web site on Friday afternoon.

The Journal says that Goldman Sachs is leading the sales process, which is in the early stages and is, at this point, exploratory in nature.

Many have wondered what would become of the indexing business following News Corp.’s 2007 acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. News Corp. paid more than $5 billion for Dow Jones and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal. The indexing piece always appeared to be an odd fit within the News Corp. structure.

According to the Journal, the indexing unit had revenues of $101 million for the nine months ending September 2007.

Dow Jones refused to comment on what it called “market rumors.”

The Wall Street Journal story is available here.