Polk Considers Selling Company

Auto research firm R.L. Polk & Co. says it has hired New York City-based investment bank Evercore Partners Inc. to explore "strategic growth opportunities," which include the possible sale of the family-owned company.

Southfield, Mich.-based Polk could fetch $1 billion, an unidentified source tells The Wall Street Journal.

The company is known for its vehicle registration data, sales forecasts and owner loyalty surveys. Polk acquired used-car shopping service Carfax in 1999.

The company was founded in 1870 to publish residential and business directories. In the early 1920s Ford founder Henry Ford and General Motors President Alfred P. Sloan were feuding over whose company had the most cars on the road. Sloan asked Polk to resolve the dispute by impartially gathering and publishing auto statistics.