Dow Jones Restructure Plan Merges Print and Online

Less than a month after taking the reins at Dow Jones & Company (DJ), Chief Executive Rich Zannino is restructuring the New York publishing company and putting the recently acquired MarketWatch in the same stable as The Wall Street Journal’s print and online editions.Dow Jones, which publishes this newswire, said in a press release yesterday it would save about $8 million a year from the restructuring, mainly by eliminating 20 net positions, mainly executives. It would incur $14 million in severance and other costs, $2.8 million of which was recorded in the fourth quarter and the rest to be booked in the first quarter.The company said the shuffle would improve efficiency by reducing management layers and streamlining processes. In particular, the company said it wants to improve profit margins at what is now called its consumer unit – which includes The Wall Street Journal print and online editions, financial news Web site MarketWatch, and Barron’s. This division, by far Dow Jones’ biggest after Mr. Zannino’s reorganization, pulled in more than $1 billion in revenue last year but still lost money.To restore profitability, the consumer group plans to continue to try to boost revenue growth, Mr. Zannino said in an interview. The Journal will try to boost its share of the consumer ad market, and the consumer group will be more aggressive in selling both print and online ad packages.Mr. Zannino said he doesn’t expect significant additional cost reductions. “We’re already very lean,” he said. He also said the reorganization wasn’t intended as a way to position any of the new operating groups for a sale.Dow Jones shares rose 53 cents, or 1.4%, to $38.48 in recent trading.Mr. Zannino succeeded longtime Chief Executive Peter Kann earlier this month – the first non-journalist to be CEO in the company’s modern era. Mr. Kann will remain chairman until retiring next year. When he was named CEO, Mr. Zannino signaled that changes were in the works, including the potential elimination of the traditional, stand-alone publisher of the print edition of the flagship Journal.Dow Jones now will report its businesses around three customer markets: consumer, enterprise, and community publishing.The company had previously been organized around distribution channels such as print and electronic, and had largely kept them in separate chains of command.“We have to move from what has been a channel focus to more of a market focus, a customer focus,” said Mr. Zannino.Aside from The Wall Street Journal editions, Barron’s, and MarketWatch, the consumer unit will include consumer-oriented joint ventures and other properties.To lead the consumer group, Dow Jones named Gordon Crovitz executive vice president of the company,president of the consumer group and publisher of The Wall Street Journal franchise, effective yesterday. Mr. Crovitz previously served as senior vice president and president of the electronic publishing group, which had included the online version of the Journal and other Web and electronic properties. Mr. Crovitz takes on what amounts to an expanded version of the role previously held by Karen Elliott House, who was senior VP and publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

Dow Jones Restructure Plan Merges Print and Online

Dow Jones Restructure Plan Merges Print and Online

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