Dow Jones Mulls Revamp At Wall Street Journal: WSJ

(RTTNews) - Dow Jones & Co., a unit of News Corp. (NWS) is planning a significant revamp at The Wall Street Journal's print newspaper to cut costs following a sharp decline in traditional print advertising, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The restructuring may include a reduction in head count, the report said, quoting people familiar with the matter. The move comes as traditional publishers grapple with a decline in print advertising revenues and pressures in the digital ad market.

There has been an increasing shift of readers and advertisers to digital, with the paper crossing the one million digital subscriber mark for the first time.

The review of operations by Dow Jones, dubbed WSJ2020, plans a three-year action plan and identify the best ways towards rebalancing revenue streams.

The WSJ's editor in chief Gerard Baker reportedly said in a memo to staff that a revised version of the paper that will be launched in the next few weeks, would include consolidation of some sections.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal reported that this would include combining the Business & Tech and Money & Investing sections in order to cut production costs, but would not indicate a cutback in coverage in those core areas.

In August, News Corp. had reported that revenue at its key news and information services segment, which includes Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal, inched up 1 percent from a year ago to $1.42 billion. Results at the media giant continued to be hurt by a challenging market for print advertising.