Dow Chemical Company

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Lore & Background

The Dow Chemical Company's history on the Dow Jones Industrial Average is marked by a major merger and subsequent spin-off. On September 1, 2017, DuPont merged with the Dow Chemical Company under the name DowDuPont. This event was recorded in the index's notation with a dagger symbol, indicating a corporate name change. The combined entity, DowDuPont, then occupied a single seat among the DJIA's thirty constituents. Just under two years later, on April 2, 2019, DowDuPont spun off DuPont. The remaining entity was re-entered into the Dow Jones Industrial Average under the name Dow Inc. In the index's tracking notation, this appeared as a down arrow for DowDuPont's removal and an up arrow for Dow Inc.'s addition. The spin-off effectively restored the Dow Chemical Company's identity as a standalone index constituent, shedding the DuPont portion that had been grafted on in 2017.

Reader's Guide

The Dow Chemical Company's significance in the context of the Dow Jones Industrial Average lies in its corporate restructuring between 2017 and 2019. The merger with DuPont on September 1, 2017, created DowDuPont, a new entity that replaced both companies in the index. This was not a simple addition or removal but a name change, tracked with a dagger symbol. The combined entity lasted for roughly two years. On April 2, 2019, the index saw the combined entity split apart again. DowDuPont spun off DuPont as a separate company, and the remaining entity was re-entered into the Dow Jones Industrial Average under the name Dow Inc. This was recorded as a removal of DowDuPont and an addition of Dow Inc. The episode illustrated how quickly the index's membership can shift: a merger in one year, a divestiture the next, and a familiar corporate name back on the board.

Did You Know?

• The Dow Chemical Company merged with DuPont on September 1, 2017, and the resulting entity entered the Dow Jones Industrial Average under the combined name DowDuPont.
• On April 2, 2019, DowDuPont spun off DuPont and was replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by Dow Inc.
• The merger of DuPont and Dow Chemical was recorded in the DJIA's notation with a dagger symbol, signifying a corporate name change.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average has changed its components 60 times since its inception on May 26, 1896.

The DowDuPont Era: A Merger on the Index

On September 1, 2017, one of the most consequential corporate combinations in the chemical industry reshaped the Dow Jones Industrial Average. DuPont and the Dow Chemical Company merged, and the resulting entity entered the thirty-stock index under the combined name DowDuPont. In the index's notation system, this event carried a dagger symbol, signifying a corporate name change rather than a simple addition or removal. The merger placed two of the world's most recognized chemical and materials brands under a single corporate roof, and that single roof occupied one seat among the DJIA's thirty constituents. The index itself, which had already undergone sixty component changes since its inception on May 26, 1896, absorbed the new entity as it absorbed all others: as a name, a weight, and a representation of a particular industrial sector. For roughly two years, the DowDuPont name would be what investors and index watchers saw when scanning the list of America's largest publicly traded companies.

The 2019 Rebirth: Dow Inc. Returns to the Index

Just under two years after the DowDuPont merger, the index saw the combined entity split apart again. On April 2, 2019, DowDuPont spun off DuPont as a separate company, and the remaining entity was re-entered into the Dow Jones Industrial Average under the name Dow Inc. In the index's tracking notation, this appeared as a down arrow for DowDuPont's removal and an up arrow for Dow Inc.'s addition. The spin-off effectively restored the Dow Chemical Company's identity as a standalone index constituent, shedding the DuPont portion that had been grafted on in 2017. The DJIA, which records the full legal name of each corporation exactly as the company itself uses it, now listed Dow Inc. in place of the two-year-old DowDuPont. The episode illustrated how quickly the index's membership can shift: a merger in one year, a divestiture the next, and a familiar corporate name back on the board.

A Price-Weighted Stage: How the DJIA Shapes Its Members

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is not a market-cap-weighted index; it is price-weighted, and that single design choice ripples through every constituent's influence. A company with a higher per-share price simply carries more weight in the index's calculation, regardless of its total market value. This mechanic produced a curious footnote in 2024: when Walmart executed a three-for-one stock split, its per-share price dropped, and its index weight fell accordingly, prompting the Index Committee to adjust the index's composition even though Walmart remained a constituent. Similarly, Verizon, despite its enormous market capitalization, represents only half a percentage point of the DJIA because its share price is relatively low. General Electric, which held a seat from the index's 1896 inception until 2018, benefited from this structure for over a century. For Dow Inc., the price-weighted construction meant its influence on the index's daily movement was tied to its share price at any given moment, not to the sheer scale of its chemical operations.

A Century of Corporate Metamorphosis

The DJIA's sixty component changes since 1896 are not merely additions and removals; a large share of them are corporate name changes, mergers, and reorganizations that the index tracks with a dagger symbol. AlliedSignal became Honeywell International after absorbing a rival. SBC Communications shed its old name and became AT&T after acquiring the original telephone company. Exxon Corporation merged with Mobil and rebranded as Exxon Mobil. In 2020, United Technologies combined with Raytheon to produce Raytheon Technologies. Even as early as 1896, Distilling & Cattle Feeding was renamed American Spirits Manufacturing. The index records each entity's full legal name, with abbreviations and punctuation exactly as the corporation itself specifies. For Dow Chemical, this tradition of corporate metamorphosis was personal: the company merged into DowDuPont in 2017, then re-emerged as Dow Inc. in 2019, a two-year detour through a new identity before returning to the name the chemical world had known for generations.

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