dow jones news/retrieval was an online service offered by dow jones & company beginning in 1973, which greatly expanded its subscriber numbers during the 1980s. it focused on financial information offering access to securities prices including quotes on stocks, bonds, options and mutual funds as well as a news data base with items culled from the wall street journal, barron's and other sources, as well as sports reports, movie reviews, encyclopedia, electronic shopping, and email. subscriber numbers rose from 11,000 in 1981 to 205,000 by 1986.