Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has enlisted software manufacturer Microsoft to help with the $650 million overhaul of its Telerate electronic information unit.

Recently renamed Dow Jones Markets, the unit provides financial data like Treasury bond quotes to brokerage houses and other clients. It has suffered from stiff competition from Bloomberg and Reuters, and Dow Jones in January announced a major redesign.

The plan, though, has drawn criticism from two dissident members of the family that controls Dow Jones and some on Wall Street as being too costly.

“What this represents is our strategy of assembling a variety of world-class partners to provide various contributions or expertise,” Ken Burenga, president of Dow Jones, said Tuesday.