AFP - News Corp.'s Dow Jones is in talks to buy partner Hearst Corp.'s half of personal finance magazine SmartMoney, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The Journal, which is published by Dow Jones, said the purchase could be announced within days. It said a price could not be learned.

"Hearst Corporation and Dow Jones have been partners since 1991 and have regularly discussed what is best for the SmartMoney brand," the Journal quoted Dow Jones as saying.

"We are in talks to transition SmartMoney 100 percent to Dow Jones ownership," the Dow Jones statement said.

Dow Jones and Hearst are equal partners in SmartMoney, which was launched in 1992 and has a monthly circulation of 800,000. It also operates a website, SmartMoney.com, and a custom publishing division.

The Journal said the number of pages of advertising in SmartMoney fell 23 percent in 2009 from 2008, a trend which affected the entire magazine industry.

The newspaper said Hearst oversees business operations for the publication such as circulation and marketing while Dow Jones is responsible for editorial operations.

The Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter," said Dow Jones plans to integrate SmartMoney's editorial employees into its own news staff and there would be a "small number" of layoffs in business operations.